Ajax Resources (AQSE: AJAX) has started the environmental permitting process for its planned maiden drilling campaign at the Pereira Velho Gold Project in Alagoas, Brazil.
The company has appointed a specialist environmental consultancy to prepare and submit the studies required to secure exploration approvals from the Institute of the Environment of the State of Alagoas.
The initial permitting work will cover two priority licences spanning approximately 2,950 hectares and support diamond drilling, geological mapping and associated field programmes.
Subject to regulatory approval, Ajax expects the permitting process to take around three months, after which it intends to begin drilling.
The company is preparing a fully funded US$1.5 million exploration and resource-definition programme, including approximately 3,000 metres of diamond drilling, geophysical surveys, geological modelling, metallurgical work, engineering studies and ESG initiatives.
The programme will build on an extensive historical database comprising 6,363 metres of drilling across 47 holes, previously completed at an estimated cost of around US$5 million.
Ajax’s primary objective is to establish a maiden Mineral Resource Estimate compliant with the JORC Code 2012 and expand the known gold mineralisation.
Historical work identified widespread near-surface oxide gold hosted in fractured quartzite and gneiss, with geological characteristics that may support a relatively low-strip-ratio deposit.
A previous in-house estimate outlined approximately 110,000 ounces of gold, although Ajax stressed that this figure is historical, non-JORC compliant and is not being treated as a current Mineral Resource.
Only around 20% of the project area has been systematically explored, leaving considerable scope for further discoveries and resource growth.
Brazil country manager Elton Pereira said the immediate goal was to deliver a compliant maiden resource and demonstrate enough growth to at least double the existing historical estimate.
