REG - Alba Mineral Resrcs. - Operational Update - Clogau and other

Alba Mineral ResourcesAnnouncement

26/06/2024 07:00

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RNS Number : 8660T  Alba Mineral Resources PLC  26 June 2024

Alba Mineral Resources Plc / EPIC: ALBA / Market: AIM / Sector: Mining

26 June 2024

Alba Mineral Resources Plc

("Alba" or the "Company") 

 

Operational Update

Alba Mineral Resources Plc (AIM: ALBA) is pleased to report on the progress of
ongoing works at the Company's 100% owned Clogau-St David's Gold Mine in north
Wales ("Clogau" or the "Mine").  The Company also reports on other
operational and project-related matters.

Key Points

Clogau-St David's Gold Mine

·      Waste Tip: all fines from Trenches 1 and 3 have now been
processed at the Company's onsite processing plant. A total of 35 kg of
concentrates have been produced in the current programme to date.

 

·       Underground Operations

o  100m of cabling is being installed and a new pump lowered to No.4 Level to
enable completion of dewatering of No.5 Level leading to development of that
level.

o  Alba's underground works contractor is back on site to complete safety and
access works on No.4 Level and, post dewatering, No.5 Level.

o  A mining contractor has been selected.

Dolgellau Gold Exploration Project

·      Completion of interpretation of surveys over Hafod Owen and
Castell Carndochan.

Andover West Lithium Option

·      The Option Period in respect of the Andover West project has
expired, however discussions are ongoing with the vendors.

Horse Hill Project

·      The Company notes the announcement by the Operator regarding the
Supreme Court's recent adverse decision in relation to the Horse Hill planning
permission.

George Frangeskides, Executive Chairman, commented:

"I am pleased to report that we have now entered the main phase of
pre-blasting operations at our primary gold target in the Lower Llechfraith
workings at Clogau. We look forward to providing further updates as the work
plan unfolds."

 

Details

Clogau: Waste Tip Processing and Refining

All of the collected fines from Trenches 1 & 3 have now been processed at
the Company's onsite pilot processing plant and a total of 35 kg of
concentrate produced.

Clogau: Underground Bulk Sampling of the Llechfraith Target

The status of ongoing preparations for the underground bulk sampling of the
Company's primary gold target within the Mine, the Llechfraith Target, is as
follows:

-    100m of cabling is presently being installed and a new pump has been
lowered to No.4 Level to enable completion of the dewatering of No.5 Level.
 The new pump is a sludge pump with a high head capability allowing for a
single lift to the clarifier tank in the Llechfraith mine yard before its
discharge into the nearby watercourse pursuant to existing permissions.

 

-    Alba's underground works contractors are currently on site to complete
a further round of safety and access works on No.4 Level and, post dewatering
of No.5 Level, to install ladderways to enable the team to access No.5 Level
for blasting. Once No.5 Level is accessible, Alba and its contractors will
survey No.5 Level for any safety works required prior to blasting.

 

-    Ventilation, in the form of fans and vent ducting, will be installed
on Levels 4 and 5 for the removal of blasting
fumes.

 

-    Compressed air will be extended to No.4 Level by the installation of
about 40m of pipes linking to the existing air pipes located on No. 2 Level.
Similarly, water pipes will be extended down to No.4 Level. Once No.5 Level
has been dewatered, this will enable both air and water to be connected from 4
to 5 Level by means of flexible hoses.

 

-    A 5-tonne capacity winch is to be installed at the top of the
Llechfraith Shaft with another one on No.4 Level, together with shaft doors
and signalling devices.

 

-    A mining contractor has been selected for the underground programme.
The blasting phase is expected to take a total of around 2-3 months. Blasting
will be performed according to the following sequence: drilling blast holes
and loading them with explosives; detonating the blast, followed by
ventilation to remove blast fumes; removal of the blasted rock (mucking out);
and winching of the blasted rock to surface for sorting, storing and
processing. Each sequence of blasting is expected to allow the development to
advance by just over 1 metre per blast.

In a revision to the previously published timeline, the current indicative
timeline for the underground bulk sampling exercise is as follows:

a.  Site mobilisation and preparation: June/July.

b.  Blasting, ore removal and sorting: July to September.

c.  Processing ore to gold concentrate and then refining & smelting: TBA.

Regarding the last point above, the blasting programme is expected to result
in the collection of a bulk sample of ~300 tonnes. As such, the Company is in
the process of considering the most efficient approach to the processing of
that amount of ore, which is expected to require an upgrade to the capacity of
the Company's existing onsite pilot plant. Further information about this will
be released in due course.

Figure 1: (left) personnel from Alba's underground works contractor inspecting
Llechfraith Shaft; (right) new sludge pump being lowered to No.4 Level

Figure 2: Proposed bulk sampling works from No.5 Level of the Lower
Llechfraith workings, involving the development of two inclined raises (in
red) between Nos. 4 and 5 Levels. The development is designed to cross the
extension of an interpreted pay shoot which was intersected in the levels
above.

 

Dolgellau Gold Exploration Project

The interpretation of the recent aerial magnetic survey over Clogau, Hafod
Owen and Castell Carndochan has been completed by the specialist geophysicist
contracted by the Company. The contents of the report are under review by the
Alba technical team. A field exploration programme, building on the new and/or
refined targets identified by this airborne programme, is being developed and
will be announced in due course.

Andover West Lithium Project

Further to the announcement on 31 May 2024 that the Company had agreed with
the vendors to an extension of the option for Alba to acquire an initial 50%
interest in the lithium rights over the Andover West Lithium Project in the
West Pilbara, Western Australia, the option period has now expired without
Alba having given notice to exercise the option.  However, the Company
remains in discussion with the vendors of the project in respect of a possible
transaction in relation to Andover West.

Horse Hill Project

The Company notes the recent announcement by UK Oil & Gas Plc ("UKOG"),
the Operator of the Horse Hill Oil Project in which Alba owns an 11.765%
effective interest.  In its announcement of 20 June, UKOG noted the Supreme
Court's decision of the same date that in its 2019 grant of planning consent
for the oil production at Horse Hill, Surrey County Council ("SCC") did not
request and consider in their assessment an estimate of the end-use carbon
combustion emissions of produced hydrocarbons. UKOG further stated that "the
ruling now retrospectively requires that the end-use combustion emissions must
be included in the development's Environmental Impact Assessment ("EIA") and
assessed as part of the grant of planning consent for the
development….Consequently, the Company now plans to work closely with SCC to
promptly rectify the situation, either via an amendment to the original 2018
planning application's EIA or via a new retrospective planning submission, for
which there is recent planning precedent within Surrey."

Alba awaits the advice of the Operator as to the next steps and timetable for
rectification of the relevant planning consents.

 

This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of the UK
Market Abuse Regulation and the Directors of the Company are responsible for
the release of this announcement.

Forward Looking Statements

This announcement contains forward-looking statements relating to expected or
anticipated future events and anticipated results that are forward-looking in
nature and, as a result, are subject to certain risks and uncertainties, such
as general economic, market and business conditions, competition for and
availability of qualified staff and contractors, regulatory processes and
actions, technical issues, new legislation, uncertainties resulting from
potential delays or changes in plans, uncertainties resulting from working in
a new political jurisdiction, uncertainties regarding the results of
exploration, uncertainties regarding the timing and granting of prospecting
rights, uncertainties regarding the timing and granting of regulatory and
other third party consents and approvals, uncertainties regarding the
Company's or any third party's ability to execute and implement future plans,
and the occurrence of unexpected events. Actual results achieved may vary from
the information provided herein as a result of numerous known and unknown
risks and uncertainties and other factors.

**ENDS**

For further information, please visit www.albamineralresources.com
(http://www.albamineralresources.com/)  or contact:

 Alba Mineral Resources plc                 +44 20 3950 0725

 George Frangeskides, Executive Chairman
 SPARK Advisory Partners Limited (Nomad)    +44 20 3368 3555

 Andrew Emmott
 CMC Markets plc (Broker)                   +44 20 3003 8632

 Thomas Smith / Douglas Crippen

 

 

 Alba's Projects & Investments
 Projects Operated by Alba          Location   Ownership
 Clogau (gold)                      Wales      100%
 Dolgellau Gold Exploration (gold)  Wales      100%
 Gwynfynydd (gold)                  Wales      100%
 Investments Held by Alba           Location   Ownership
 GreenRoc Mining Plc (mining)       Greenland  34.72%
 Horse Hill (oil)                   England    11.765%

 

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