Lion One Metals starts gold mining at Tuvatu, Fiji
Lion One Metals Ltd. [LIO-TSXV; LLO-ASX; LOMLF-OTCQX] has reached a significant milestone at its Tuvatu mine, Fiji. Initial mining of near-surface, high-grade gold-bearing mineralization has commenced from a recently discovered mineralized lode. To date, strike driving along the new lode totals 14 cuts for an estimated 475 tonnes, much of which has already been added to the company’s mining inventory stockpile. The high-grade inventory stockpile will constitute the initial feed for the company’s custom-designed-for-purpose processing facility, currently under construction.
The new lode was discovered in late 2022, 75 metres into the new development decline, and was subsequently defined by underground mapping, chip-channel sampling and diamond drilling.
Development along the strike has since been extended by 13 metres by way of seven separate cuts, with each cut representing approximately 30 tonnes of material. Vertical development of nine metres as a 1.5-metre-by-1.5-metre rise has been completed, as well as an additional seven cuts, for a total of approximately 475 tonnes of gold mineralized material, to date. Tuvatu has implemented air-leg mining, which allows for flexibility and optionality to deliver low-cost tonnage at minimum mining widths of 1.8 metres and a rate of advancement of four metres per day.
Several recent drill holes have intersected multiple high-grade intercepts. Systematic face sampling provides detailed information that compare favourably with previous drill results.
The material extracted from this drive represents the first modern extraction from the Tuvatu deposit and as such represents a significant milestone for the company.
The well-defined structure consists of a quartz vein array with minor to trace pyrite, chalcopyrite, sphalerite and bornite as well as coarse native gold, typically in association with roscoelite. Late carbonate veinlets crosscut the structure. The vein is hosted by monzonite, with well-developed symmetric bleached alteration. The highly visible alteration envelope has rendered advancement on this mineralized structure very straightforward by way of visual identification alone.
The Tuvatu alkaline gold project is located on the island of Viti Levu, Fiji. The January, 2018 mineral resource for Tuvatu as disclosed in a technical report comprises 1,007,000 tonnes indicated at 8.50 g/t gold (274,600 oz gold) and 1,325,000 tonnes inferred at 9.0 g/t gold (384,000 oz gold) at a cut-off grade of 3.0 g/t gold.
Lion One’s flagship asset is the 100%-owned, fully permitted high-grade Tuvatu alkaline gold project. 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 7-km diameter alkaline gold system.