Altai shows taste for geographical diversity

Altai Resources (TSE) is acquiring interests in two countries far removed from each other.

In the Philippines, Altai has gained a 40% stake in a local company that owns a property on Lahuy Island, 350 km southeast of Manila. The property is near Toronto-listed TVI Pacific’s deposit at Rapu Rapu, and includes the formerly producing Treasure Island gold mine and a low-grade deposit at Tila Point.

The Treasure Island deposit still has a potential reserve of 2 million tonnes grading about 2 grams gold per tonne in its oxidized upper zone (which formed the crown pillar of the mine).

At Tila Point, gold mineralization exists in small, epithermal veins in andesites. A preliminary resource is estimated at 25 million tonnes grading 3 grams gold per tonne, and local, small-scale gold miners are currently exploiting a nearby outwash plain with sluice boxes.

Meanwhile, in southern Peru, the Toronto-based junior has acquired a 70% interest in the Victoria property, a 20-sq.-km gold project. A large number of gold occurrences in epi-thermal veins exists in the area, and the property itself hosts seven high-grade veins with an average width of 30 cm.

In the 1960s, probable reserves were estimated at 216,000 tonnes grading 15.9 grams gold per tonne, with a possible resource of 2.3 million tonnes grading 24.4 grams per tonne, based on a mining width of 60 cm. The property, however, was not brought to production.

Altai believes adits can be employed to work veins with an average width of 25 cm and average gold grade of 10 grams per tonne. A recovery rate of 85% would render the operation economic at a gold price of US$380 per oz.