First Drilling of Historic Pine Ridge Gold Mine in 20 Years
Ministerial Consent Received - Pine Ridge Gold Mine Drilling
Sydney, Mar 12, 2019 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Argent Minerals Limited (
ASX:ARD) (Argent, or the Company) is pleased to announce that Ministerial consent has been received for the Pine Ridge Gold Mine drilling programme.
Highlights:
- Major regulatory milestone achieved - Ministerial consent to Argent exploration on key Pine Ridge Gold Mine and Kempfield Crown Lands areas.
- Only a single standard drilling approval remains for Pine Ridge Gold Mine drilling preparations to commence.
- The 800 m diamond programme - the first drilling of the Pine Ridge Gold Mine since 1998 - will test depth and strike extensions of high-grade historical intersections that include 21 m @ 5.6 g/t Au from 50 m including 1 m @ 62.9 g/t Au from 59 m (PR010).
MAJOR REGULATORY MILESTONE ACHIEVED
Together with the Crown Lands access agreement announced 6 March 2019, the Ministerial consent represents the achievement of a major milestone for both the Pine Ridge Gold Mine and Kempfield projects. The process going forward is now relatively straightforward.
Pine Ridge Gold Mine
Argent considers the Ministerial consent to be the last of the significant regulatory complexities requiring resolution by Argent since its low cost acquisition of the Pine Ridge Gold Mine. These include the cancellation of a 3rd party Assessment Lease Application (ALA) that had carved out the gold mine area for approximately 15 years, the Native Title Right To Negotiate (RTN) Determination (no native title applicants), the successful land access outcome announced on 6 March 2019, and the Ministerial consent announced today.
The consent was expedited and granted efficiently and in minimal time by NSW Department of Planning & Environment, Division of Resources & Geoscience (DRG) - less than one week since the execution of the access agreement with NSW Crown Lands. Under Section 30 of the NSW Mining Act (1992) Ministerial consent is required for exploration on Crown Lands 'Exempt' areas such as the historic Pine Ridge Gold Mine.
This leaves only a standard ESF4 approval remaining for the commencement of drill pad construction at the Pine Ridge Gold Mine.
DRG has advised Argent that the Company's request for the approval process to be expedited has been passed on to the relevant decision maker and that no other potential delay-causing issues are apparent.
Kempfield
The Ministerial consent is also an important development for the Kempfield project - applying to Crown Lands within the main Kempfield project area and additional highly prospective surrounding areas.
Together the Crown Lands access agreement and the Ministerial consent allow the Company drilling access for the first time on key Crown Lands areas where significant deposit expansion potential has been identified by the Company (8 November 2017 Exploration Target p. 8).
In addition to Crown Lands areas within Pine Ridge exploration licence EL8213, this includes Kempfield exploration licences EL5748, 5645, 7134, and 7785.
ABOUT THE PINE RIDGE GOLD MINE DRILLING PROGRAMME
Potential depth and strike extensions
Four diamond holes are planned (800 metres) to initially evaluate the Pine Ridge gold mine. The purpose of this initial drilling is to test potential depth and strike extensions to the high-grade mineralisation identified by historical drilling (24 October 2016 High Grade Au Identified in Trunkey-Kings Plain Gold Belt).
High historical intersection grades
Highlights of historical high-grade gold intersections reported by Argent for the Pine Ridge Gold Mine include:
- 21 m @ 5.6 g/t Au from 50 m (PR010)
incl. 1.0 m @ 62.9 g/t Au from 59 m;
- 10 m @ 4.1 g/t Au from 51 m (PR009)
incl. 1.0 m @ 20.6 g/t Au from 52 m;
- 10 m @ 3.7 g/t Au from 71 m (PR012)
incl. 1.0 m @ 11.2 g/t Au from 76 m;
- 18 m @ 2.4 g/t Au from 68 m (PR023)
incl. 1.0 m @ 5.3 g/t Au from 77 m.
About Argent Minerals Limited
Argent Minerals Limited (
ASX:ARD) is an Australian publicly listed company with a 100% interest in a silver/gold project at Kempfield NSW. Work is underway on the preparation of an EIS and a feasibility study for the first stage of the project which will involve heap leaching some 8.8 million tonnes of mainly oxide and transitional material to produce over 9.5 million ounces of silver and 15,000 ounces of gold over a 5 year mine life. Argent is also earning up to a 70% interest in two other NSW projects - gold at West Wyalong and base metals at Sunny Corner.
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