Aston Minerals to grow Edleston gold resource with further drilling
Aston Minerals will drill test a further 1.9km of strike to grow gold resources within the Edleston project in Canada.
Following a recent maiden 1.5-million-ounce gold resource for its Edleston project in Canada, Aston Minerals (ASX: ASO) is gearing up to grow the estimate further by drilling 1.9km of strike.
The drill program is due to begin later this month and will target multiple induced polarisation (IP) anomalies, which lie under shallow transported cover.
Drilling will comprise 14 diamond holes for 4,800m and aims to determine whether the anomalies are mineralised.
Aston executive chair Tolga Kumova said gold had originally been discovered at Edleston using IP surveys to firm up chargeability anomalies.
Drilling of high-priority chargeability anomalies across the Edleston Main and Sirola deposits resulted in the development of the 1.5Moz in contained gold resources, which cover 1.8km of strike.
Mr Kumova said the upcoming program will test 1.9km of “multiple paralleling IP anomalies” that are along strike and within the same lithological setting as Sirola.
“Sirola mineralisation outcrops at surface and has been drill tested to a maximum depth of 700m below surface and remains open at depth along strike,” Mr Kumova explained.
“At present, Sirola has a strike length of 790m and hosts 906,000oz gold within the maiden resource.”
Mr Kumova said the 1.9km the company is drilling looks like the same material – adding that a further 6.2km of trend remains to be tested.
“Predecessors conducted a limited IP survey along part of this trend and identified a significant amount of paralleling IP chargeability anomalies.”
Edleston project
The 1.5Moz gold resource was announced in January and took less than two years to develop.
Edleston is in proximity to major gold operations in Ontario, Canada. The project is 60km south of Timmins in the province and is close to significant former and current mining operations, as well as skilled labour and infrastructure.
In addition to being prospective for gold, Edleston also hosts nickel and cobalt.
Last month, Aston unveiled a massive resource for the Boomerang target at the project of 1.044 billion tonne at 0.27% nickel and 0.011% cobalt.
Mr Kumova says the resource confirms Boomerang as one of the world’s largest nickel-cobalt deposits.