2018 Drilling Commences at Tulkubash

RNS Number : 6603M

Chaarat Gold Holdings Ltd

01 May 2018

 

Chaarat Gold Holdings Limited

("Chaarat" or the "Company")

2018 Drilling Commences at Tulkubash

Road Town, Tortola, British Virgin Islands (1 May 2018)

Chaarat (AIM - CGH), the AIM quoted exploration and development company developing the Chaarat Gold Project in the Kyrgyz Republic, is pleased to announce the commencement of its 2018 drilling campaign at its Tulkubash oxide gold deposit.  The first drill rig arrived on site on April 23 and commenced drilling on April 25.  Two more rigs are expected to arrive on site this week, with up to ten rigs expected to be working at site later in the drill season.

The first hole being drilled is targeting strike length extension of the currently defined oxide mineralisation.  The initial drill hole targets the extension of strong mineralisation along the southeast side of the currently designed Tulkubash pit.  This target has the potential to add low stripping ratio, high-grade oxide ore to the existing pit design by extending an ore shoot about 80 metres along strike.  Visual inspection of drill core indicates that the hole is intersecting mineralisation, with the strongest mineralisation seen from a drill depth of approximately 90 metres.

Robert Benbow, the Company's CEO, commented:

"The ongoing infrastructure construction at Tulkubash has allowed us to get an early start on this year's drilling programme.  The drilling programme is designed to extend gold mineralisation along strike from the defined Resource that forms the basis for the recently completed and announced Feasibility Study.  The Feasibility Study is the blueprint that defines how we initiate gold production in 2020.  The ongoing exploration along strike from the currently defined Resource is the mechanism by which the initial investment is warranted and enhanced."

Dorian L. (Dusty) Nicol, Non-Executive Director and Chair of the Company's Technical Committee, commented:

"We are very excited to begin this season's drilling programme at Tulkubash.  We are planning an aggressive programme of 30,000 metres of diamond drilling this year, and the same again in 2019, with the objective of greatly expanding the oxide gold resource defined at Tulkubash.  The highest priority of the drilling will be to add Measured and Indicated gold ounces near the current resource boundary, with the objective of moving as high a percentage as possible of these ounces to reserves for addition to the Tulkubash mine plan.  The drilling programme will be designed to maximise additions to the resource base and also to maximise the ratio of resource to reserve conversion.  Our target is to at least double the oxide resource as a result of this, and next year's, drilling.

"Our ongoing exploration and drilling will continue to build on our ever-increasing knowledge and geologic understanding of the deposit.  Our 2017 drilling programme comprised 17,400 metres of drilling, roughly half of what is envisioned for each of the next two drill seasons, and added 287,000 ounces of gold to Measured and Indicated Resource, over an additional strike length of about one kilometre, while increasing the average grade by 25%.  This was accomplished at an all-in discovery cost of under $20/ounce, amongst the lowest I have experienced in this industry.

"In addition to near-term mine life addition, some drilling will be carried out to document the further extent of Tulkubash mineralisation along strike.  To date, only 2.2 kilometres has been explored of a 24 kilometre strike length of favourable geology with coincident outcropping ore-grade gold mineralisation and gold-in-soil anomalies.  Some of the gold-in-soil anomalies along strike from the currently defined resource are larger and higher grade than the surface anomaly associated with the current resource.  As an exploration geologist, I am confident that much oxide gold mineralisation remains to be found within our licenses and I am by no means certain that we have found the richest part of the deposit yet."

The Company will update the market regularly as assay results are received from the ongoing drilling.

Throughout the winter, the Company has continued to advance engineering design and construction of infrastructure for the mine.  The detailed engineering of the heap leach facility is approximately 90% complete and design of the plant facilities kicked off in January of this year.  Access road construction continued throughout the winter with a focus on excavation and blasting.  As the weather warms, fill and placement of road bases are ramping back up.  Communication system components are being fabricated in Bishkek and will be delivered to the mine site in May.  Major construction activities are planned in the mine and heap leach areas this summer.  Updates will be provided as these activities progress.

Competent Person

The Competent Person (CP) for the Company on technical aspects of this Press Release is Dorian L. (Dusty) Nicol, FAussIMM, a Non-Executive Director of the Company and Chair of the Company's Technical Committee.

Enquiries:

Chaarat Gold Holdings Limited                                             + 44 (0) 20 7499 2612

Martin Andersson - Chairman                                                 [e-mail]

Robert Benbow - Chief Executive Officer

Numis Securities Limited                                                       [phone]

John Prior, Paul Gillam (NOMAD)

James Black (Corporate Broking)

BMO Capital Markets Limited                                               [phone]

Jeffrey Couch, Neil Haycock,
Thomas Rider (Joint Broker)

Blytheweigh (Financial PR)                                                    [phone]

Tim Blythe

Camilla Horsfall

NOTES TO EDITORS:

About Chaarat Gold

Chaarat Gold is an exploration and development company operating in the Kyrgyz Republic with a large, high grade resource - the Chaarat Gold Project.  The Company's key objective is to become a long term, low-cost gold producer focused in Central Asia and the former Soviet Union.

Chaarat aims to create value for its shareholders, employees and communities in the Kyrgyz Republic by building relationships based on trust and operating to the best environmental, social and employment standards.

Further information is available at www.chaarat.com

 

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