Flagship uncovers monster hits from legacy data in Chilean gold belt

Flagship Minerals has revealed a sizzling set of re-cut gold hits from its Pantanillo project in Chile’s legendary Maricunga gold belt after diving headfirst into a monster dataset inherited from gold giant Anglo American.

The startling numbers, which included multiple hits of more than 100 gram-metres of gold, electrified the market. Flagship’s share price rocketed up 41 per cent today to reach new highs of 9 cents a share on heavy turnover.

Flagship Minerals has uncovered a treasure trove of massive gold hits from a dataset inherited from mining giant Anglo American at its one-million-ounce Pantanillo project in Chile.

The Alladdin’s cave of old results contains more than 700 files, 10,000 documents and 100 tonnes of physical sample material linked to a resource previously flagged as a major oxide system, which already hosts 1.05 million non-JORC compliant ounces of gold.

Flagship has now crunched the numbers from more than 180 holes spanning 30,000 metres of drilling and the results are nothing short of eye-popping. The company lit up the oxide zone with a barrage of standout hits topping 100 gram-metres, led by a barnstorming 116m section grading 1.5 grams per tonne (g/t) gold from 86m depth, sitting inside a whopping 193m strike going 1.01g/t from just 28m depth.

‘The acquisition of Anglo American’s dataset is a game-changer for Flagship.’

Among the jaw-dropping numbers, one hole delivered 142m at 1.13g/t gold from 310m, including an 86m slice punching out 1.54g/t. Another ripped through 320.3m at 0.62g/t from 126m, with a 116m core blasting 1.03g/t.

But the biggest fireworks were kept for last - a staggering 493m intercept at 0.53g/t from just 9m, including 158m at 0.86g/t, and a separate 317.5m strike at 0.60g/t, capped by a 74m wedge grading a juicy 1.18g/t from 376m.

Flagship says its top 20 intersections average a whopping 205m at 0.65g/t - equating to 133 gram-metres each, highlighting the scale and consistency of the mineralisation and its suitability for bulk-tonnage, open-pit and heap leach processing.

Flagship Minerals managing director Paul Lock said: “The acquisition of Anglo American’s dataset is a game-changer for Flagship. What we’re seeing are multiple long runs of +100 gram-metre intercepts in oxide material. This confirms Pantanillo’s credentials as a large, scalable heap leach opportunity.”

Armed with more than 14,000m of diamond core, plus a stockpile of pulps and rejects, Flagship’s next move is all about speed - rolling out re-assays and confirmatory sampling to convert its one-million-ounce NI 43-101 foreign estimate into a JORC 2012-compliant resource. Additional upside also exists along strike at its nearby Pantanillo Central and T1 prospects.

The company is also looking at applying a more appropriate cut-off grade to the massive drill database, which may further boost the ounces - without touching a single drill rig.

Notably, 98 per cent of the resource sits in the oxide or mixed categories, making it ideal for low-cost heap leach development.

Heap leaching is a clever, low-impact way to pull gold from the ground by stacking ore on a thick polyethylene pad and soaking it with a chemical solution that draws the gold out. There’s no need for crushing or a massive tailings dam, which slashes the mine’s footprint and gives the environment a much easier ride.

The existing metallurgical test work has shown recoveries of up to 75 per cent in oxide and 65 per cent in mixed ore using this process. The company says a robust open-pit mining plan already exists based on historical studies.

If Flagship can pull this together, the company’s broader strategy is to develop Pantanillo into a low-cost operation capable of producing 100,000 ounces per year over at least a decade.

With the gold price reaching fresh highs overnight of US$3546 (A$5436) per ounce on global debt worries, the punter’s interest in large-scale oxide deposits is soaring. Flagship’s timing in bringing Pantanillo back into the limelight could prove golden.

Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact: [email protected]

Most Viewed in Business

Loading