Southern Gold continues high work rate with drilling at South Korean projects

Southern Gold Ltd (ASX:SAU) is maintaining a high work rate at its South Korean gold projects with diamond drilling recently completed at the Beopseongpo project and new programs underway at the Deokon and Aphae projects. Two diamond rigs are operating and the company expects to maintain a high work rate throughout the year. Shares have climbed from 9 cents at close on March 13 to be trading at 16.5 cents today. Assays expected Assays are expected from the Hand of Faith drill hole within the wider Beopseongpo Gold Project early next month. A total of 1,989.21 metres of HQ3 triple tube has been drilled at the project since the diamond drilling recommenced on February 10. The drilling program, which completed on May 12, included one hole for 146.7 metres at Golden Palm followed by a further four holes at Hand of Faith. A second rig was then deployed at Spider with the two drill rigs completing a combined four holes for 972.19 metres. Results from Hand of Faith are expected in early to mid-June with results for all four holes at Spider expected in early July. Deokon scout drilling Scout drilling is being utilised to test beneath the Shin Hill underground workings at the Deokon project. Quartz veining within the Shin corridor can be traced in float and sub-crop for more than 400 metres. This target is an intermediate sulphidation vein breccia that has small historical workings and significant down-dip and along strike potential. Aphae work Drilling at the Aphae project. Drilling has also begun at Southern Gold’s Aphae project, targeting under the historical Aphae gold mine to a depth of 150 metres. Two additional holes along strike are planned, APDD002 (around 40 metres to the south) and APDD003 around (40 to 50 metres to the north). These along strike holes are designed to assess the strike continuity of the mineralised structure and confirm the mineralised structure's orientation. Drilling was originally planned from two separate landowner blocks that are intermittently used for vegetable and rice crops. The company’s wholly-owned subsidiary Southern Gold Korea (SGK) has only gained land access approval to the plot where two of the three holes are planned (APDD001 and 002) and it is likely that the third hole will be drilled from this as well. Future drilling schedule Drilling activity will remain at the current pace for the remainder of 2020. The immediate plan after the Deokon and Aphae projects is to drill at depth at Weolyu. Alternatively, a program at Dokcheon may be drilled first instead, depending on logistics and scheduling. COVID-19 impacts Southern Gold has had impacts on its expatriate expert technical staff due to international travel restrictions and has encountered some impact on its project generation programs, which are typically run from November to May each financial year (pre and post-winter). For the current financial year, COVID-19 necessitated a halt to these programs in March, several months earlier than planned. Another COVID-19 impact has been in the logistics of moving samples from South Korea to accredited laboratories. At this stage, these logistical issues have added several weeks to the normal turnaround time for sample preparation and analysis. Importantly, however, the COVID-19 issue has not impacted the company's ability to execute planned drilling programs. This means exploration momentum can be maintained while the company continues to build the quality of its project portfolio.