Alice Queen eyes robust year ahead, driven by drilling developments in the December quarter

Alice Queen Ltd (ASX:AQX) is looking forward toward a robust year ahead driven by exciting drilling developments completed by the company in the December 2020 quarter. The company spent around $4.1 million as exploration expenditure and ended the quarter with a strong financial position having around $4.5 million in cash. In January this year, Alice Queen restarted drilling at its Boda East Project along with RC resource infill drilling program at Horn Island. Horn Island Project During the quarter, the company completed a diamond drill program comprising of six holes for a total of 1,356 metres to test a total strike length of 230 metres of the Tatooine DDIP chargeability target. All assays returned demonstrate zones of gold mineralisation (>0.5g/t gold), with the furthest intercept located about 100 metres south and down dip from the previous drilling. Mineralisation remains open towards the south and northwest, coincidental with the overall trend of the Tatooine DDIP CHG anomaly. In December 2020, a diamond core program of 13 holes for 4,590 meters was completed under the St Barbara JV across the section of the Tatooine DDIP anomaly and Naboo DDIP Target contained within the JV. Assay results for this program are expected to be released to the market this quarter. Alice also completed 13 of a planned 34-hole RC infill program at the Horn Island resource to progress resource definition. Boda East During the December quarter, the company reported assay results from the upper 480 metres of its first hole of a maiden program at Boda East, adjacent to Alkane Resources’ (ASX:ALK) Boda discovery within the Northern Molong Belt. Alice started drilling at Boda East in July 2020, initially completing four deep diamond holes for 3263.7 metres. Results from the upper 480 metres of 20BEDH001 showed a previously reported chalcopyrite zone from 423 metres to 438 metres averaging 0.09% copper. The observations from initial drilling at Boda East confirmed the host rocks of Alkane’s Boda discovery appear to extend into Alice Queen’s ground. The company has also received approvals to increase its program to 14 diamond drill holes to test around 13 kilometres north-south trend across four target areas at Boda East, each of which contains multiple drill targets.