Alice Queen begins testing extensions with infill drilling at Horn Island Pit Gold Project

Alice Queen Ltd (ASX:AQX) has started infill diamond drilling at Horn Island Pit Gold Project in the Torres Strait off Queensland, testing for possible extensions to the existing inferred resource. The board believes a genuine opportunity exists at Horn Island to expand the current gold resource and it aims to progress the value of the asset by way of further infill drilling. Alice Queen has around $9.5 million in cash and is fully funded to advance the Horn Island pit project while also being leveraged to the work that JV partner St Barbara Limited (ASX:SBM) is undertaking outside this project. "Unique opportunity"  Managing director Andrew Buxton said: “The pit resource at Horn Island offers a unique opportunity to potentially create additional value through infill RC drilling to progress from an inferred to an indicated status.” The diamond program comprises five holes for 1200 metres and in addition, a reverse circulation (RC) rig is being mobilised and is expected to arrive at Horn Island in late September. Alice Queen's phase-one RC infill program will consist of up to 33 holes for 4,100 metres and is expected to begin late September or early October and will be completed in November with results due by December. The resource is adjacent to the abandoned Horn Island Pit, a previously operating gold mine which ceased operation in 1989. The Horn Island inferred resources of 492,000 ounces forms part of the excluded areas from the JV agreement with St Barbara. Bulk test-work The gold at Horn Island manifests itself within the quartz-sulphide veins contained within the host rock and technologies such as ore separation and sorting may offer significant uplift at the front end of a potential future processing circuit. To this end sampling of core from a previous PQ drill program has been completed and is being dispatched to Tomra for ore sorting bulk test-work Tomra is a leader in sensor-based separation and sorting technology, effectively separating ore from unwanted material, therefore delivering reduced dilution, lower strip ratios and transport costs, removed contaminants and optimised process flows. Alice Queen anticipates receiving results from this bulk test-work program at the end of September.