ALBA Alba Mineral Resources

Alba Mineral Resources Plc / EPIC: ALBA / Market: AIM / Sector: Mining

13 March 2025

Alba Mineral Resources Plc

("Alba" or the "Company") 

Clogau Operational Update

Alba Mineral Resources Plc (AIM: ALBA) is pleased to provide this operational report on the Company's Clogau-St David's Gold Project in Wales ("Clogau" or the "Project").

Level 5 Blasting

In the first phase of the blasting programme at Clogau, a total of 123 tonnes of ore was removed to surface, a combination of newly blasted ore and historic material left behind or deposited during previous mining periods.

Processing and Refining

Since the completion of the first phase of blasting, the focus has been on processing and refining.  From the processing of 11.6 tonnes of newly blasted ore, 108.6 kg of concentrates have been sent to the Company's usual third party refiner and all these concentrates have now been refined, recovering 11.58 grams of gold.  In that regard, it should be noted that the Level 5 blasting programme has not yet reached the proposed first incline raise (see Figure 1). Therefore, the blasted material to date does not represent the projected high-grade zone. The incline raises are designed to intersect the projected payshoot, thereby maximising the prospects of recovering economic grades and quantities of gold.

Figure 1: Section through Llechfraith showing the 5 Level development in relation to the projected pay shoot. Blasting has taken place at the Drive West and the Drive East. 4.5 Level drive is off-reef which means that Raise 1 can be commenced from closer to the current No.5 Level Drive West position.

As indicated in our last operational update, the Company has been making improvements to the Company's pilot processing plant to improve the efficiency and recovery of processing. The improvements have included:

-    Repositioning of the wave table in front of the shaking table, involving the installation of a new concrete plinth for the wave table.

-    Installation of a trommel to screen out oversize and enable a fine-grained delivery to the tables (Figure 2).

-    Modifications to the hammer mill screens in order to limit oversize material.

Figure 2: Newly installed trommel.

Blasting Programme

Given the slower than anticipated progress of the first blasting programme, as outlined in our announcement of 11 December 2024, following a further review by our technical team it has been decided to reposition the first raise so as to be able to commence it much sooner in the planned  blasting programme than previously planned (see Figure 1).  Raise 1 can be commenced within 5 metres from the current face position of the No.5 Level Drive West. This will result in an earlier transect across the projected payshoot. The raise will be developed at an angle of +50° so that it will be self-cleaning, eliminating the need for time-consuming mucking out.

Revised Work Programme

Alba's planned ongoing work programme can be summarised as follows:

·      Firstly, complete the processing of the current surface stockpiles comprising the balance of the Waste Tip trenching material and No.5 Level blasted and historical material, totalling around 145 tonnes.

·      Secondly, given the success of the Waste Pit sampling programme to date, where bulk grades of up to 3 g/t gold were defined, complete the Waste Pit trenching programme.

·      Thirdly, resume the underground development programme on No.5 Level to complete the planned 1-2 incline raises.

Appointment of Chief Mining Engineer

The Company is very pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Peter Bolt as Chief Mining Engineer for the Clogau Gold Mine. Peter Bolt is a highly experienced mining engineer, with a degree and PhD from Cardiff University. He worked for a decade at SRK (UK) Ltd, becoming Principal Mining Engineer. Between 2002-7 he worked as a director of AIM-quoted mining companies, including managing the underground development programme at the Quintana Gold Mine in Colombia. In 2007 Peter joined Continental Gold as VP Operations, responsible for their exploration and development projects in Colombia, including the Buritica, Machuca and El Limon mines. In recent years, Peter worked as an independent consultant on mining projects in Europe and Africa and was a consultant with WSP for 6 years. He has previously consulted to the Company in relation to the Clogau Gold Project. 

Figure 3: Peter Bolt and Mark Austin inspecting underground development (11 March 2025)

George Frangeskides, Executive Chairman, commented:

"We are delighted to welcome Dr Peter Bolt to our team. Peter has a wealth of knowledge as a senior mining engineer, notably in relation to underground gold mines and processing operations, and we have already begun to see the benefits of that in terms of our formulation of a forward plan for Clogau.

"While the gold recovered to date from the processing and refining of the newly blasted material from No.5 Level is modest, the first phase of the blasting programme did not reach the proposed first incline raise and so the blasted material to date does not represent the projected high-grade zone within the Llechfraith Target, our primary gold target within Clogau. As such, the gold grades in that key zone remain to be ascertained."

Forward Looking Statements

This announcement contains forward-looking statements relating to expected or anticipated future events and anticipated results that are forward-looking in nature and, as a result, are subject to certain risks and uncertainties, such as general economic, market, financial and business conditions, competition for and availability of qualified staff and contractors, regulatory processes and actions, technical issues, new legislation, uncertainties resulting from potential delays or changes in plans, uncertainties resulting from working in a new political jurisdiction, uncertainties regarding the results of exploration, uncertainties regarding the timing and granting of prospecting rights, uncertainties regarding the timing and granting of regulatory and other third party consents and approvals, uncertainties regarding the Company's or any third party's ability to finance, execute and implement future plans and programmes, and the occurrence of unexpected events. Actual results achieved may vary from the information provided herein as a result of numerous known and unknown risks and uncertainties and other factors.

Competent Person Declaration

The information in this release that relates to Exploration Results has been reviewed by Mr Mark Austin. Mr Austin is a member of SACNASP (Reg. No. 400235/06), Fellow of The Geological Society and Fellow of the Geological Society of South Africa. He has a B.Sc. Honours in Geology with 40 years' experience.

Mark Austin has sufficient experience that is relevant to the style of mineralisation and type of deposit under consideration and to the activity being undertaken to qualify as a Competent Person as defined in the 2012 Edition of the 'Australasian Code for Reporting of Exploration targets, Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves', also known as the JORC Code. The JORC code is a national reporting organisation that is aligned with CRIRSCO. Mr Austin consents to the inclusion in the announcement of the matters based on his information in the form and context in which they appear.

**ENDS**

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