Merlin
On February 23, 2024, AngloGold provided an initial inferred resources estimate on Merlin that included the following highlights:
- 284 million tonnes grading 0.99 g/t gold for a total of 9.05 million ounces of gold
- The inferred resource is pit-constrained and represents only oxide-domain material
- A cut off grade of 0.137 g/t was applied to the resource based on metallurgical recovery factor of 94% for gold and 22% for silver for mill material, and a metallurgical recovery factor of 70% for gold and 12% for silver for crushed heap leach material
- Drilling that focused on multiple high-grade cores has identified significant visible gold
- Merlin remains open to the west and at depth below the current pit boundary
Previous Project Updates
On August 4, 2023, AngloGold provided a drilling and resource development update on Merlin that included the following highlights:
- The Exploration Target at Merlin ranges from 230 to 250 million tonnes grading 0.8 to 1.0 g/t gold for a total of 6.0 to 8.0 million ounces of gold (see Cautionary Note)1,2,3
- The Exploration Target at Merlin is exclusive of the 3.4 million ounces gold Indicated and 800,000 ounces gold Inferred resources at Central Silicon4
- Impressive drill hole intercepts include drill hole MER-23-0105-RD grading 3.27 g/t gold over 285 metres and drill hole MDT-21 grading 2.61 g/t gold over 214.8 metres3
- Over 261 drill holes totalling over 120 kilometres of drilling at Merlin completed as of July 20233
- The Merlin zone remains open to the west, south-west, and north
AngloGold has completed over 200 kilometres of drilling on the Expanded Silicon project with a conceptual study designed to integrate the two mineral bodies (Silicon and Merlin) to be completed by the end of 2023. The mineralization at Central Silicon and Merlin consists of epithermal gold mineralization. At Merlin, mineralization appears to be dominantly hosted in the Bullfrog and Tram tuffs with the currently defined Exploration Target open to the west, south-west and north. AngloGold is currently working on an integrated concept study for the Expanded Silicon project to be completed in H2 2023. AngloGold predicts first production in the Beatty District by the end of 2025 with the region forming a greater than 300,000-ounce gold per year multi-decade mine1,2.
Table 1: Drill hole intercept results shown in Figure 11
Drill hole ID | From (m) | To (m) | Length (m) | Au (g/t) |
MD-0017 | 425.2 | 592.8 | 167.6 | 0.82 |
MD-0016 | 397.8 | 617.2 | 219.4 | 0.62 |
MRC-0017 and | 367.3 722.4 | 685.8 792.5 | 318.5 70.1 | 0.72 0.76 |
MDT-0021 | 448.1 | 662.9 | 214.8 | 2.46 |
MER-23-0105-RD | 482.8 | 564.3 | 81.5 | 2.61 |
MER-23-0147-RD | 284.1 | 569.1 | 285.0 | 3.27 |
MRC-0014 | 480.1 | 595.9 | 115.8 | 2.42 |
MD-0005 | 408.4 | 585.2 | 176.8 | 0.64 |
MER-23-0044-RD | 316.5 | 553.5 | 237.0 | 0.67 |
MD-0001 | 342.0 | 556.0 | 214.0 | 1.19 |
ML20-171CT | 256.4 | 454.8 | 198.4 | 1.40 |
ML21-185CT | 323.4 | 506.1 | 182.8 | 0.83 |
CH21-056 | 143.3 | 196.6 | 53.3 | 0.55 |
CH21-072 | 123.4 | 167.6 | 44.2 | 0.43 |
(1) Results reported at 0.1g/t cut-off. Reported intervals are drilled core lengths, true widths are not yet established. Assay values are uncut.
Figure 1: Merlin long section looking northwest showing drill results. Adapted from Interim 2023 Merlin Exploration Target1
Figure 2: Plan map displaying drill collar locations (red dots) at the Silicon and Merlin targets1
A full report and transcript are available at: https://www.anglogoldashanti.com/
References:
- https://thevault.exchange/?get_group_doc=143/1691123637-Interim2023MerlinExplorationTarget.pdf
- https://thevault.exchange/?get_group_doc=143/1691123886-AGAInterim2023ResultspresentationFINAL.pdf
- https://thevault.exchange/?get_group_doc=143/1691118404-AGA-Interim-2023-Results-Report.pdf
- https://reports.anglogoldashanti.com/22/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/AGA-IR22.pdf
Silicon
On February 22, 2023, AngloGold declared a total mineral resource on the Silicon deposit of 4.22 million ounces, including indicated resources of 3.4 million and inferred resources of 800,000 ounces gold. The increase in mineral resource ounces was a result of successful greenfields exploration, supported by an open pit optimization at US$1,750 per ounce gold to demonstrate reasonable prospect of economic extraction. Testing completed in 2022 provided more details regarding metallurgical variability of the transitional and unoxidized material. This resulted in a reduction in heap leach recovery compared to the previous assumptions. Continued studies will further refine the recovery estimates and evaluate the addition of a third processing option that may be more suitable for those materials. The table below illustrates the year-on-year changes in mineral resource:
Source: AngloGold Ashanti Mineral Resource and Mineral Reserve Report as at December 31, 2022 [1]
Additional highlights include the following:
- Indicated resources of 121.56 million tonnes grading 0.87 g/t gold for 3.4 million ounces and 3.98 g/t silver for 15.54 million ounces, signalling a full conversion from inferred resources announced in 2022;
- Additional inferred resources of 36.03 million tonnes grading 0.70 g/t gold for 800,000 ounces and 1.92 g/t silver for 2.23 million ounces.
As disclosed in AngloGold’s Mineral Resource and Mineral Reserve Report as at December 31, 2022 [1], the following activities were completed to date on the Silicon project including:
- Exploration drilling comprised of 262 RC drill holes, 65 DD holes and 40 RC pre-collar/diamond tail for a total of 146,109 metres;
- Detailed geological mapping at 1:5,000 scale has been completed over a total of 58 square kilometres;
- Ground geophysics was carried out on the project including a total of 1,307 kilometres of induced polarization/resistivity, ground magnetics and gravity surveys;
- Geochemical sampling comprising outcrop rock chip sampling and 26 x 2.3 kilometres soil survey was also carried out at various phases of the exploration program; and
- Drilling program is continuing not infill and further delineate the deposit as well as collect test work material in support of the planned concept study.
[1] https://reports.anglogoldashanti.com/22/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/AGA-RR22.pdf
Figure 3: SW-NE Cross-section view across the Silicon deposit, highlighting the location
of gold mineralisation associated with the Silicon-Tramway fault corridor in metres AMSL