Dundee Precious Metals Inc. (TSX: DPM) (“DPM” or “the Company”) is pleased to announce a maiden Mineral Resource Estimate of 1.78 million ounces for its 100% owned Čoka Rakita gold project in eastern Serbia, where DPM announced a high-grade discovery in January 2023.
Highlights
- Strong maiden Mineral Resource estimate: Inferred Mineral Resource estimate (“MRE”) of 9.79 million tonnes (“Mt”) at a grade of 5.67 grams per tonne (“g/t”) for 1.78 million ounces of gold. The maiden MRE was completed after only one full year of drilling on the project and is based on approximately 80,723 metres of drilling in 173 holes.
- Higher-grade core of mineralization: The MRE contains a significant portion of gold ounces within a continuous high-grade core of mineralization that amounts to 2.81 Mt at a grade of 10.12 g/t Au for 0.914 million ounces of gold. Once sufficient drilling has been completed to upgrade the Mineral Resource confidence, this higher-grade core has the potential to drive strong economics by accessing higher than average grades during the early years of a mine plan.
- Upside exploration potential: DPM is continuing its drilling program focused on extending the limits of Čoka Rakita, which remains open to the northeast and to southwest, and is also aggressively pursuing additional skarn targets on the Čoka Rakita licence as well as on three additional licences to the north and the south.
- Advancing to a preliminary economic assessment (“PEA”): Based on the favourable size and quality of the MRE, DPM will continue to accelerate the project and expects to complete a PEA on the project in the second quarter of 2024, targeting a throughput rate of 850,000 tonnes per annum.
- Attractive organic growth opportunity: Čoka Rakita benefits from good infrastructure, including nearby existing roads and power lines. The project is located in close regional proximity to DPM’s existing operations in Bulgaria and is a strong fit with the Company’s underground mining and processing expertise, with metallurgical test work demonstrating gold recoveries of approximately 90% by gravity concentration and conventional flotation.
“The initial Mineral Resource estimate marks a significant milestone for DPM’s future growth and confirms Čoka Rakita’s potential as an attractive, high-quality gold project,” said David Rae, President and Chief Executive Officer of Dundee Precious Metals.
“Since we announced the initial discovery only 11 months ago, Čoka Rakita has rapidly grown into a 1.8 million ounce deposit, a remarkable achievement over such a short period of time, and we plan to continue aggressively exploring at Čoka Rakita and the surrounding licences to generate new discoveries.
“We are continuing to accelerate the project through our development pipeline, including advancing a PEA which is targeted for completion in the second quarter of 2024. We are excited by Čoka Rakita’s potential in a region where we have had a presence for many years and where we have developed strong relationships with local stakeholders.”
Maiden Mineral Resource Estimate
The Inferred MRE is comprised of 1.78 million ounces of gold contained within 9.79 million tonnes grading 5.67 g/t Au (Table 1) and assumes an underground mining scenario.
Gold-rich skarn mineralization is hosted within carbonate rich sandstones and conglomerates, located on the hanging wall of a sill-like body and abutting a monzonite intrusive body to the west. The mineralization forms a shallow-dipping tabular mineralized body located between 250 and 450 metres below surface, measuring 650 metres long, up to 350 metres wide, and with variable thickness from less than 20 metres in the margins to more than 100 metres in the core of the mineralized zone. Coarse gold is often observed in areas of intense retrograde skarn alternation and is found mainly in proximity to syn-mineral diorites within the higher-grade core of the deposit. The current MRE has been conducted on the portion of the prospect where gold-rich skarn mineralization occurs.
The drillhole database was handed over as of November 16, 2023. A total of 173 drill holes totalling 80,723 metres were included in the estimation of the Mineral Resource. The current drillhole spacing within the mineralized domains is approximately 30 metres by 30 metres in the core of the system, with an up to 60-metre by 60-metre grid on the periphery. Gold grades within skarn domains have been determined systematically using a screen fire assaying technique, which is preferred for mineralization with coarse gold. Grade capping was applied to composites to limit the influence of anomalously high-grade values.
Mineral resource domains were created within volumes of moderate to intense skarn alteration and guided by economic composites at a 1 g/t Au cut-off value. Detailed lithology and structural models were developed and used to constrain domain extents, as well as to incorporate post-mineralization diorite sills which cut across the mineralization. Block grade estimates have been undertaken for Au, Ag, Cu, S and As using ordinary kriging at a 10mE x 10mN x 10mZ parent block size with sub-celling to honour domain volumes.
A break-even cut-off value of 2 g/t Au and a minimum width constraint of 5 metres by 5 metres by 2.5 metres was used to define optimized mineable shapes using Datamine’s Mineable Shape Optimiser (“MSO”). These shapes were subsequently smoothed and used to constrain continuous zones of mineralization for reporting the final Mineral Resource statement.
The application of MSO shapes at the MRE stage provides a robust estimate for the purposes of a PEA, and a higher confidence in the potential for the conversion of Mineral Resources into mineable tonnes and grades for the purposes of a mine plan for the PEA. Mineral Resources that are not Mineral Reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability. The MSO shapes have been used to ensure Mineral Resources demonstrate reasonable prospects for eventual economic extraction.
Material within the reporting MSO constraints (smoothed) was classified as Inferred Mineral Resources according to Mineral Resource confidence categories defined in the CIM Definition Standards for Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves. Data quality and quantity, geological and grade continuity, and confidence in the grade, density and reasonable prospects for eventual economic extraction (“RPEEE”) criteria were considered when classifying the MRE. Given the relatively continuous and stratified mineralization style at Čoka Rakita, the Company has reason to expect that the majority of Inferred Mineral Resources could be upgraded to Indicated Mineral Resources with infill drilling.
