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Jul 2016 - Alto Metals Limited

Alto Metals Limited (AME) – Targeting a ~1moz Mineral Resource for Potential Gold Production of ~100kozpa

  • Alto Metals have secured over 90% of the historic Black Range Goldfield that is centred on Sandstone in central WA. The Sandstone goldfield's heyday was in the early 1900s, but it failed to revive in the 1930s because it had become too fragmented, such that by 1945 there had been ~128 cancelled mines amongst the ~245 cancelled leases. Some ~650koz were officially mined amongst Alto's tenements between 1904 and 1945, of which the bulk (~400koz @ ~18g/t) was mined by 1916, with another ~210koz @ ~14g/t by 1925.
  • First Herald and then Troy Resources reconsolidated what closely resembled a patchwork quilt over the ~35km x ~35km area involved. Troy struck lucky with its acquisition of Bulchina from Battle Mountain Gold in 1999 [followed by the Lords after exploration in a previously owned Vulcan (VCN) tenement], which resulted in an additional ~11 years production from 1999 to 2010 and ~510koz of gold production, after Herald's 126koz.
  • The area was mill constrained from 1994 to 2010 in that treatment was through an oxide plant on which little appeared to have been spent on trying to materially improve the crushing and grinding circuit. Consequently most pits stopped when they encountered hard ore and exploration focused on oxide resources, apparently mostly ignoring potential hard rock resources. The ore bodies appeared to be restricted by a general model that they all dipped west, whereas they often seem vertical and appear to strike ~N/S and E/W.
  • Troy closed its operations at Sandstone and had cleaned up the mill by SQ2010, selling the assets to Southern Cross Gold (SXG) who apparently intended to cannibalise the plant for its other operations. SXG consequently sold the bulk of the exploration tenements to a company later acquired by Alto Metals, but retained the plant and the tenement area where it was located. SXG changed its name to Black Oak and imploded when it tried to simultaneously open 3 operations, and the plant etc went to the Receiver, and then to MDI.
  • Alto's acquisition of the Sandstone exploration tenements resembles Avoca's acquisition of Higginsville, in that Resolute abandoned Higginsville (mostly ignoring the underground) to go to Africa, and Troy abandoned Sandstone (mostly ignoring hard ore, yet alone underground potential) in order to focus on South America. Alto's geos intend to apply sound geology and the latest techniques to delineate a resource base to move forward.

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Jul 2016 - Alto Metals Limited

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  • Written by: Keith Goode
  • Friday, 29 July 2016