Unigold traces oxides over 800 metres at Neita
Neita consession, Dominican Republic. Image courtesy of Unigold
Unigold (TSX: UGD.V) has released the results of 28 holes testing oxide resource potential at its 226-sq.-km Neita concession in the Dominican Republic. The drilling has confirmed oxide mineralization over a strike length of 800 metres and a width of 150 metres, extending down to depths of 20 metres to 30 metres. The oxides appear open to the north-east with additional drilling planned.
Drill highlights include:
21 metres of 1.37 g/t gold from the Candelones Connector zone; and20 metres of 4.07 g/t gold and 31.6 metres of 1.52 g/t gold from the Candelones Main zone.All of these intercepts are in oxidized material.
"We believe the oxide mineralization offers potential as a starter pit, generating early cash flow while underground access is established into higher-grade sulphide mineralization," Joe Hamilton, the company's chairman and CEO said in a release. "Drilling to expand the surface footprint and establish a measured and indicated resource will be designed when the metallurgical test work is completed. In the meantime, both of our diamond drill rigs are exploring the deeper, higher grade sulphide mineralization at the Candelones Extension deposit."
While the company was planning additional holes to continue testing the footprint of the Candelones Main oxide zone, these holes were postponed to focus on the sulphides at the Candelones Extension.
Unigold has started metallurgical testing of the oxide mineralization to establish process parameters for plant design. A test mining program completed in 2018 indicated that the oxide mineralization was free digging to a depth of at least five meters, the physical limit of the equipment used at the time.
A resource estimate completed in 2013 for the Candelones deposits outlined inferred open pit oxide resources of 3.6 million tonnes at 0.98 g/t gold for a total of 112,000 gold oz. Inferred open-pittable sulphide resources came in at 30.2 million tonnes at 1.5 g/t gold for a total of 1.46 million oz. of gold. An additional report released in 2015 estimated inferred sulphide resources for underground extraction of 5.3 million tonnes grading 5.27 g/t gold for a total of 894,000 gold oz.
The Neita concession features numerous targets with multiple potential mineral deposit models; the Candelones zones are interpreted as volcanic-hosted massive sulphide deposits.
Barrick Gold and Newmont currently own and operate the Pueblo Viejo mine in the Dominican.
(This article first appeared in the Canadian Mining Journal)