LONDON (ShareCast) - (Sharecast News) - Alba Mineral Resources announced the completion of its phase 1 surface drilling programme at the Clogau-St David's Gold Mine on Friday.

The AIM-traded firm said that as a result, it was now able to project the newly-identified vein system at the Llechfraith mine area as having a down dip extent of 122 metres below the existing workings, making for a 46% increase from previous hole LL009.

It said the final hole in the programme, LL010, was the deepest hole drilled at 176.4 metres.

The hole intersected the Upper Lode quartz vein system from 120 to 129 metres, and the Lower Lode quartz vein system from 139 to 145 metres.

A total of 1.82 metres of quartz veins were intersected in the Upper Lode, and 5.92 metres in the Lower Lode, including one intercept of 3.73 metres, which was the widest intercept in the entire programme.

At its deepest point, LL010 intersected the lode structure 122 metres below the existing Llechfraith mine workings, almost doubling the depth extent identified previously by LL009 at 66 metres.

Alba explained that, now that phase 1 was complete, its initial geological modelling indicated that the total tonnage estimation for the newly-identified lode structure was between 24,000 and 27,000 tonnes in the Lower Lode alone.

The lode structure remained open at depth within economic stratigraphy below the deepest intercept in LL010, and the western strike extent was yet to be constrained, meaning that the tonnage estimation for the Lower Lode could potentially be materially increased by further exploration drilling.

The board said the success of LL010 "strongly reinforced" the company's view that the newly-modelled zone, which it was calling the Llechfraith Lode, was a key target for future development and production at Clogau-St David's.

Intersecting the lode structure at such depth had "significant implications" for the entire project, the firm added, as it indicated that gold-bearing structures mined in and around the mine could extend "significantly" to depths which historical mining efforts never reached.

"Hole LL010 was designed to assess whether the newly identified lode system beneath the Llechfraith mine area extends to 100 metres below those previous workings," said chief operating officer Mark Austin.

"In the event, the hole has greatly exceeded our expectations, intersecting the lower lode at a depth of 122 metres below the lowest workings.

"Now that this phase of drilling has been completed, we have been able to refine our 3D model for this significant, unexploited lode system, which we are calling the Llechfraith Lode, and to calculate for the first time a tonnage estimation of 24,000 to 27,000 tonnes for the Lower Lode alone."

That, Austin said, should give a "good indication" of the sheer size of the Llechfraith Lode and its potential significance for its future development and production plans at Clogau-St David's.

"Perhaps even more significant is the fact that we have intersected the Llechfraith Lode structure at such depth.

"This has implications for the entire Clogau St. David's Gold Mine, as it indicates that gold-bearing structures mined in and around the Mine could extend significantly to depths which historical mining never reached.

"This will be further tested very soon, as we embark on phase 2 of our surface drilling programme targeting the depth extensions of the 7-10 and Grandfathers Lodes, which were significant sites of past production on the Llechfraith Adit Level."

At 0854 GMT, shares in Alba Mineral Resources were up 4.64% at 0.36p.

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