Altus Strategies discovers hard rock gold workings on Egyptian licenses

Highlights

• 37 hard rock artisanal gold workings discovered across two projects in Egypt.
• Longest working mapped for over 370 m, with five others mapped for over 100 m.
• Less than 50% of the company's licences have been visited to date.
• The discoveries validate the company's target generation process.
• A full technical and operational team has been established in Cairo.
• Comprehensive exploration programmes are anticipated to commence in 4Q21.

Steven Poulton, Chief Executive of Altus, commented: “We are pleased to report that our Egyptian field team has discovered numerous hard rock artisanal gold workings from initial reconnaissance at the first two of our four Projects in the Eastern Desert of Egypt.

“Reconnaissance has focused on areas identified by our in-house target generation techniques that integrate remote sensing and historical data. The field programmes have validated the power of this approach and underscored the prospectivity of the licences. At least 37 hard rock workings have been discovered to date, the largest of which has been mapped for over 370 m in length. Many of the gold workings have undergone extensive mechanised activity, indicating the potential for significant mineralisation. Further reconnaissance will commence shortly across the two remaining projects, which cover the majority of the 1550 km² area held by Altus in Egypt.

“We have rapidly established a high calibre technical and operational team in Egypt, allowing us to aggressively advance our field programmes. I look forward to updating shareholders on the results of this work in due course.”

Hard rock workings

Gabal Om Ourada Licence

• Four of 12 high priority targets as defined by desktop studies have been visited.
• Numerous historical artisanal hard rock workings discovered.
• Workings traced for up to 375 m, in sheeted systems within breccia or fault zones.
• Quartz-vein style gold mineralisation (orogenic gold) both fault and intrusion hosted.
• Hydrothermal alteration (silica, carbonate, iron oxide and clay) and visible sulfide mineralisation observed.
• Priority targets for follow-up work delineated with numerous other targets to be assessed.

Wadi Dubur Licence

• Four of 10 high priority targets as defined by desktop studies have been visited.
• Numerous historical artisanal hard rock workings (mechanised and smaller scale).
• Workings traced for up to 250 m, in sheeted systems within mafic-ultramafic hosts.
• Quartz-vein style gold mineralisation (orogenic gold) both fault and intrusion hosted.
• Hydrothermal alteration with silica and/or carbonate alteration and sulfide (pyrite, galena) mineralisation observed.
• Visible gold identified in hand samples.
• Priority targets for follow-up work delineated with numerous other targets to be assessed.

Next phase of reconnaissance

Field reconnaissance will commence shortly at the Wadi Jundi and Gabal Al-Shalul Projects which together cover 1044 km² in the Eastern Desert. On completion of the reconnaissance programmes, detailed exploration, including geological mapping and sampling, is anticipated to commence in 4Q21, once the necessary field permits are in place.

Read the article online at: https://www.globalminingreview.com/exploration-development/21092021/altus-strategies-discovers-hard-rock-gold-workings-on-egyptian-licenses/