Loncor Gold (LN.V) released very encouraging assay results from its deep drilling program on its flagship Adumbi deposit in the DRC. As you may remember, the company started to drill deeper holes to get a better idea of the mineralization underneath the current in-pit resource which currently hosts almost 1.9 million ounces of gold in the indicated resource category and 1.8 million ounces of gold in the inferred resource category.
Loncor reported the assay results of just one hole but that immediately was a good one as the drill bit intersected several high-grade mineralized zones. The zone that was encountered first returned almost 0.9 ounces of gold per tonne of rock over a 45 centimeter interval. Good grades, but pretty narrow (but it goes without saying even a few hundred tonnes of that grade would definitely boost the average grade of the rock that is processed through the mill. But further down-hole the drill bit intersected 2.6 meters of 4.06 g/t gold, and 11.85 meters of 7.14 g/t gold within a wider interval of 16.07 meters of 5.82 g/t gold. This was followed up on with almost 14 meters of 6.99 g/t gold within a wider interval of 22.64 meters containing 4.77 g/t gold. Towards the bottom of the hole, the drill bit intersected 2.07 meters of 4.25 g/t gold.
The grades are good and in a low-cost environment like the DRC they would for sure meet the cutoff grade for underground mineralization. Additionally, the Adumbi project will surely be developed as an initial open pit before going underground which means the initial capex related to the processing facilities should already be fully repaid by then.
Disclosure: The author has a long position in Loncor Gold. Loncor is a sponsor of the website. Please read the disclaimer.
