RE:RE:13 stacked (high-grade) structures at Orenada 4 (thus far)Hey LRG,
I think anything is possible for the Triangle Too area, if Alexandria eventually finds the mineralized bodies. A joint venture with Integra Gold, for Triangle Too, makes sense - given the mill location and Intregra already having good knowledge of this type of mineralized structure. However, I don`t think it is a given, as there will likely be other players interested. The other players might be interested in all of Alexandria`s assets, as a whole. We`ll see how it plays out.
Of course, Triangle Too (Airport) is not on the table right now - not until something meaningful is identified. However, I think we have a decent chance - for eventually finding something (if not during this current round of drilling). We have all of the geologic features which host cost resources at Integra`s nearby Triangle deposit (and also with similar deposits in the Val d`Or area):
* plugs (intrusive bodies formed directly from the magma below)
* diorite material within the plugs
* quartz-tourmaline veins
* some shear structures
* pyrite minerals within the veins (pyrite is essentially valueless, but can often be a pathfinder for finding gold and other valuable minerals)
* small amongs of gold already found within 6 of the 7 drill holes - I believe 5 of the holes were directly within the diorite plugs, at the upper levels
However, only 2 plugs/targets looked at thus far. There are 12 other separate targets to test within the greater Triangle Too area (identified through geophysical studies and past drilling), even if we strike out with these 2 initial plugs.
Hey Nelson,
It is impossible to know what the resource will look like, but we can probably use some basic logic as ballpark guide.
The 2009 resource came in at around 750,000 gold ounces for Orenada 4 and 2 combined - using a .5 g/t cutoff. I think the gold price was around US $800 at the time. Of those, about 560K Au ounces were within 250m of the surface.
Firstly, we should get a bit of boost from the gold price being US $1,250 now.
I would say we have a good chance of reaching 1 million (or above) for Orenada 4 and 2 combined. However, the real traction will be with grade. Increase in grade will be why other companies (and hopefully the market) become interested in the deposit.
Alexandria will likely do 2 resource profiles - 1 with a 2.0 g/t cutoff and 1 with the old .5 g/t cutoff.
The total ounces might come in lower than 1 million using the 2.0 g/t cutoff and above 1 million with the .5 g/t cutoff.
However, the 2.0 g/t cutoff could show an average grade of 3.0 g/t gold - which could change the perception of the deposit. At this cutoff, we are looking at essentially only the high-grade veins/structures being included in the resource.
At noted previously, we will likely be mining everything above .5 g/t cutoff, as an efficient bulk tonnage (open pit) operation. As noted above, I`m thinking .5 g/t cutoff could get us to 1 million (or above, maybe even materially above). Can we get to the 1.2 - 1.5 million gold ounce range for Orenada 4 and 2 combined? It`s impossible to say right now. I think a lot will depend on further success going both east and west.
At the .5 g/t cutoff, the newly defined high-grade structures could push the overall grade into the 1.4 - 1.8 g/t range. The blended overall grade (at this cutoff) was probably around 1.2 g/t in the last resource profile. This would be a material improvement, especially for a near-surface open pit operation.
However, if we are able to get the high-grade structures (2.0 g/t cutoff) to average, say, around 3.0 g/t grade, then it is the 3.0 g/t grade that Alexandria should be pushing to the market. The strip ratio will be a bit of a challenge for this open pit deposit, I think, due to the structure of the deposit. However, having significant high-grade components within the deposit can easily overcome strip ratio challenges. Alexandria needs to paint this picture, so the market clearly understands the importance of this huge high-grade contribution.