Announcement • Apr 23
Alpha Exploration Ltd. Commences Exploration Drilling Programme at Kerkasha Project
Alpha Exploration Ltd. announced that an exploration drilling programme has commenced at its Kerkasha Project that will include approximately 6,000 metres at the Aburna Gold prospect and 4,000 metres at the Anagulu Copper-Gold prospect. This exploration phase, totalling some 10,000 metres, will include both reverse circulation ("RC") and core drilling. The main objectives of this work are to augment the known gold mineralization at Aburna, and test other new targets nearby in search of new discoveries. In addition, expand the Anagulu Copper-Gold porphyry prospect through further mineralised drill intercepts. Both prospects are located within its 100% owned, 514km² Kerkasha Project located in Eritrea. The Aburna Gold prospect is a district-scale gold system covering an area at least a 7 km long and 2km wide. Three prospects, Central, Hill 52, and Northeast have been the main focus for previous exploration and evaluation drilling. The large Aburna area of gold mineralization is also marked by extensive anomalous gold values in soil and shallow rotary air blast ("RAB") drill sampling, in places associated with artisanal workings. The Anagulu Copper-Gold porphyry prospect was discovered by the Alpha team through surface sampling and mapping with follow-up drilling. The exploration target footprint has been expanded by recent shallow RAB drilling, following up on termite mound sampling, to some 4 by 2km. These prospects, located only some 7 km apart, are two of three significant discoveries made by the Alpha team on the Kerkasha licence. Alpha has commenced its planned 10,000 metres Second Quarter/Third Quarter, 2026 exploration drilling programme that will include approximately 6,000 metres at the Aburna Gold prospect and 4,000 metres at the Anagulu Copper-Gold prospect. This campaign will utilise some 6,500 metres of RC and 3,500 metres of core drilling. The planned 6,000 metres of drilling at the Aburna prospect ("Aburna") will target the expansion of the gold mineralisation discovered by the Alpha team to date. This will be combined with the 32,634 metres already completed by Alpha at the Hill 52, Central and NE areas, and to test other compelling geological targets nearby in search of new discoveries. The gold mineralisation at Aburna is relatively shallow, with some 90% of the drilling delivering intercepts shallower than 120 metres. In addition, to date, only approximately 20% of the 'Aburna Corridor,' as defined by gold-in-soil anomalies, trenching, reconnaissance RAB drilling in areas of transported soil, permissive geology and structure, has been tested by significant drilling. Selected mineralised intervals at Aburna include: ABD012: 18m @ 15.33 g/t Au (276) GM from 114m, ABR037: 16m @ 14.07 g/t Au (225) GM from 14m ABD008: 5m @ 32.10 g/t Au (160) GM from 129m, ABD001: 23m @ 6.74 g/t Au (155) GM from 89m ABD013: 49m @ 2.75 g/t Au (135) GM from 18m, ABR018: 19m @ 5.19 g/t Au (99) GM from 50m ABR092: 9m @ 10.00 g/t Au (90) GM from 55m Note: GM: Gram metre = Drilled Interval grade. Approximately 4,000 metres of drilling are planned at the Anagulu Copper-Gold porphyry prospect. The objectives of this current drilling programme at Anagulu are to test new shallow exploration targets recently identified from shallow RAB drilling, and to further examine the width, grade and depth potential of the system. This mineralised porphyry system has already returned drilled intercepts over some 2.4 kilometres along trend. Importantly, the mineralisation is centred in a quartz-eye porphyry dyke that extends from surface outcrops to some 340 metres depth. Recently reported shallow reconnaissance RAB drilling and termite mound sampling has expanded the exploration target footprint to some 4 by 2 kilometres. One of the most compelling new targets is the Camel Target Zone ("Camel") that represents an area of at least 1 kilometre along its northeast to southwest trend and some 250 metres in width; it is separate and parallel to the previously discovered Copper-Gold mineralisation. Furthermore, this new target zone remains open to expansion to the south and west where there is a large area of geochemically anomalous copper recently returned by termite mound sampling. Selected mineralised intervals at Anagulu include: AND001: 108m @ 1.25 g/t Au (134 GM) & 0.60 % Cu from 59m Including: 49m @ 2.33 g/t Au (144 GM) & 1.05 % Cu from 80m AND005: 109m @ 0.79 g/t Au (86 GM) & 0.35 % Cu from 99m ANR044: 70m @ 0.56 g/t Au (39 GM) & 0.37 % Cu from 140m ANRD049: 120m @ 0.47 g/t Au (56 GM) & 0.30% Cu from 279m Note: GM: Gram metre = Drilled Interval grade.
