Lion One Metals drills 84.96 g/t gold over 1.2 metres at Tuvatu, Fiji
Lion One Metals Ltd. [TSXV-LIO; OTCQX-LOMLF; ASX-LLO] reported significant new high-grade gold results from continuing infill and grade control drilling at its 100%-owned Tuvatu alkaline gold project in Fiji.
Assay results are presented here for infill and grade control drilling completed in the Zone 2 area of Tuvatu, focusing primarily on the Murau lode system. Mining of the Murau lode system has commenced and grade control drilling is being conducted in advance of further mining in this area. Infill drilling is being conducted to target the up-dip and down-dip extensions of the Murau lodes. The results reported here represent material that is scheduled to be mined in Q4 2023 and throughout 2024.
Lion One chairman and CEO Walter Berukoff commented: “After celebrating our first gold pour at Tuvatu on October 10, we now turn our focus back to grade control and infill drilling. These drill programs continue to yield positive results and to strengthen our understanding of the mineralization at Tuvatu. We are pleased to present yet another batch of high-grade results from the Zone 2 area of Tuvatu, an area which will serve to feed our brand-new mill in the mid-to-near term future.”
Highlights of Zone 2 drilling (3.0 g/t cutoff): 84.96 g/t Au over 1.2 m (TGC-0092, from 4.5 m depth); 20.69 g/t Au over 4.2 m (including 40.22 g/t Au over 0.9 m) (TUDDH-677, from 76.5 m depth); 13.60 g/t Au over 5.1 m, (including 98.87 g/t Au over 0.3 m) TUDDH-663, from 89.1 m depth); 13.22 g/t Au over 5.1 m (including 50.54 g/t Au over 0.3 m) (TGC-0085, from 56.5 m depth); 15.64 g/t Au over 3.9 m (including 23.48 g/t Au over 1.2 m) (TUDDH-680, from 140.9 m depth); 38.26 g/t Au over 1.5 m (including 41.99 g/t Au over 0.6 m) (TUDDH-663, from 177.3 m depth); 34.77 g/t Au over 0.9 m (including 35.67 g/t Au over 0.3 m) (TUDDH-680, from 146.6 m depth) and other excellent assays.
The Murau lodes are located within the Zone 2 area of Tuvatu, along the upper portion of the western decline in the northwest part of the deposit. The Zone 2 area encompasses a number of distinct lode systems, including the URW1, URA1, and Murau lode systems. The Zone 2 area was the first to commence mining at Tuvatu and mining is ongoing in all three of these lode systems.
The current round of infill and grade control drilling in the Zone 2 area is focused on the Murau lode system, which is modelled as a series of stacked relatively flat lying lodes that strike approximately east-west and dip moderately to the south. The portion of the Murau lode system that is currently targeted for mining consists of a vertical extent of 55 metres, an east-west strike length of 110 m, and a down-dip extension of 100 metres.
A total of 10 infill and 11 grade control drillholes are included in this release. The infill drill program was conducted from surface and was designed to target the up-dip and down-dip extension of the Murau lodes on approximately 20-metre centres. The goal of the program is to provide an increased understanding of the system’s mineralization and geometry in these areas. The grade control drill program was conducted from underground on 5-10 metre centres and was designed to provide much higher resolution of the Murau lode system in advance of mine development and extraction. The Zone 2 infill and grade control drill programs are ongoing.
Lion One’s flagship asset is the fully permitted high-grade Tuvatu Alkaline Gold Project, located on the island of Viti Levu in Fiji. Lion One envisions a low-cost high-grade underground gold mining operation at Tuvatu coupled with exploration upside inside its tenements covering the entire Navilawa Caldera, an underexplored yet highly prospective 7km diameter alkaline gold system.