Lion One buys drill assets in Fiji

Lion One Metals (TSXV: LIO) announced that it has just bought the drilling assets of Geodrill, which is located on Fiji's main island.

The purchase would allow Lion One to prepare for drilling at its 100%-owned Tuvatu gold project on Viti Levu, also in the Fiji Islands.

In a press release, the North Vancouver miner said that the Geodrill asset package includes one surface diamond drill rig capable of drilling up to 800 meters in HQ sized drill core, and one underground diamond drill rig capable of drilling in excess of 100 meters in NQ sized drill core. Drilling rods, down-hole survey cameras, down-hole temperature monitors, a spare parts inventory, transport vehicles, and support trucks were also included.

Photo by Lion One Metals,

The equipment is not new to the Canadian firm, as its team has already used the surface drill rig for the majority of the 28,000 meters of exploration and resource definition diamond drilling undertaken over the past five years at Tuvatu, as well as for the majority of the PQ sized geotechnical drill holes completed for the tailings storage facility, new portal location for the underground development, and the process plant and surface infrastructure areas.

"With the purchase of these drilling assets Lion One has also hired an experienced local drilling team that will ensure the company has readily available, cost-effective drilling capabilities well into the future," said Lion One's Managing Director Stephen Mann in the media brief. "We can now plan future exploration drilling and have access to essential equipment at a significantly reduced cost to undertake that work. Such further work will be scheduled following the end of the current wet season in Fiji."

The high-grade Tuvatu project is the largest undeveloped gold project in the island country. According to Lion One, it is expected to produce 100,000 ounces of the yellow metal per year over a 10-year mine life. The production target is based on a 600 tons per day CIL operation yielding recoveries of 86% with up to 40% of gold recoverable through the gravity circuit.

Resource is reported at a 3 g/t Au cutoff representing a resource amenable to underground production. The June 2014 Tuvatu resource estimate reported an indicated resource of 1,101,000 tonnes at 8.46 g/t Au for 299,500 ounces of gold and an inferred resource of 1,506,000 tonnes at 9.70 g/t Au for 468,000 ounces of gold.