Arkle Resources PLC (LON: ARK), the Irish gold and zinc exploration and development company, is pleased to announce its audited results for the year ending 31 December 2020.
Chairman’s Statement
It is pleasing to be able to report drilling on our Mine River licences in Wexford / Wicklow is producing good results notably where earlier detailed soil sampling had identified a totally new zone with gold potential some 750 metres from the 2017 Tombreen discovery.
We have drilled three 100 metre holes into this area, now known as Tombreen West, and each hole contained multiple zones of gold bearing veins providing a strong indication of a gold bearing system.
We moved the fourth hole approximately 700 metres away into the main Tombreen area. This 200 metre hole showed visible gold in veins between 145 and 150 metres depth. Laboratory analysis is underway with results expected in early July 2021. Reflecting the evidently positive results of this hole an immediate revision of the exploration programme is underway.
Additional holes will be drilled in a pattern around Hole 4 in Tombreen. Permits have been obtained and drilling will commence once the current hole 5 is completed.
Of equal significance is the suggestion that the shallow holes at Tombreen West may not have gone deep enough to detect the high grade gold. It is likely that one or more 200 metre holes will be drilled at Tombreen West.
The detailed soil sampling at our second property in Donegal, using new more advanced techniques, rediscovered what we believe to be the gold bearing veins we first found in 2016. We intend to drill Donegal when permits are obtained and after the current campaign is completed at Mine River.
The Donegal drilling campaign will focus on the encouraging soil sample results and follow up trenching survey data obtained in 2020 which we have now analysed and modelled. The focus of the new campaign will be to follow the vein first identified in 2016 which contained high gold grades.
Turning to our zinc project, the 23.44% owned Stonepark project in Limerick which has a NI-43-101 compliant resource in excess of 5 million tonnes. There is plenty of scope for growth at this project as the mineralisation has been identified in recent drilling to extend out with the current resource and is open on three sides. Our target is to increase the resource to 10 million tonnes. The licences are held in a private joint venture company where the majority shareholder (76.6%) is Group Eleven who are the operator.
In recent months, Arkle commissioned a report on Stonepark to confirm forward exploration strategies. This recommended drilling a suite of 10 holes. Arkle would be pleased to participate in this programme and are liaising with our partners, Group Eleven, to expedite this if possible.
There has been a significant external interest from multinationals in the Stonepark project. The Company was an active participant in negotiations with two of the interested companies and proposals acceptable to Arkle were received but they were not accepted by Group Eleven.
Group Eleven have been active on their Carrickittle ground which is adjacent to the Stonepark ground. They have reported very strong drilling results in holes close to Stonepark. The holes are close to the Kilteely hole drilled on Stonepark in 2019. This hole showed zinc mineralisation. There is a geological model which posits a zinc bearing trend from the Carrickittle ground through the Stonepark licences and on to the Pallas Green licences where 45million tonnes of zinc bearing ore have been reported. The results in the Kilteely hole are at greater depths than the current Stonepark deposit.
We believe that the Stonepark deposit is a very valuable resource for Arkle and will be even more so with additional drilling.
Funding
Arkle is well funded for current and any proposed exploration campaigns. We anticipate that outstanding warrants will be exercised which would further increase available funding for exploration.
John Teeling
Chairman
24 June 2021
