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(Sharecast News) - Conroy Gold and Natural Resources said in an update on Monday that drilling has started at its Clontibret project in Ireland, marking the start of an initial 2,000 metre programme aimed at testing the deposit's deeper potential and expanding the existing gold and antimony resource.
The AIM-traded firm said the first drill hole was now underway, with a second drill rig expected to be mobilised before year-end to accelerate the programme.
It said the initial hole is targeting the major stockwork zone beneath the historic Tullybuck Antimony Mine at around 500 metres vertical depth, representing the deepest drilling undertaken at Clontibret to date.
Conroy Gold said the hole was designed to intersect more than 10 identified lodes before reaching the deeper stockwork zone, with the objective of improving geological understanding and assessing the potential for higher-grade, structurally controlled mineralisation at depth.
Subsequent drill holes would focus on testing the strike extension of the antimony-bearing lode system towards a postulated northern fault zone believed to separate the Corcaskea mineralisation from the main Clontibret deposit, while also testing several central gold lodes.
The company described the programme as the first phase of systematic deeper exploration at Clontibret and an important step in evaluating the potential for higher-grade mineralisation at depth.
"This initial package of drilling follows on from the insights into plunge controls at the Clontibret target gained from the re-logging effort," said chairman John Sherman.
"The aim of this body of work is to begin to assess the potential for gold in the system at depth, as well as the contribution of antimony to the attractiveness of Clontibret."
Clontibret hosts a defined 517,000-ounce gold resource at an average grade of two grams per tonne, comprising 320,000 ounces in the indicated category and 197,000 ounces inferred, based on a 2017 estimate, and remained open in multiple directions including at depth.
The deposit formed part of Conroy Gold's wider 'Discs of Gold' project, which spans two district-scale gold trends extending over about 90 kilometres within the company's wholly owned licence area in Ireland.
At 1059 GMT, shares in Conroy Gold and Natural Resources were up 8.74% at 11.2p.
Reporting by Josh White for Sharecast.com.