Altair Minerals (ASX: ALR) Hits 10m at 10.15g/t Gold at South Oko

Altair Minerals has reported a standout gold intercept from maiden trenching at its South Oko prospect in Guyana.

Trench TR-W1-06 returned 10 metres at 10.15 grams per tonne gold from 38 metres along the trench. Altair ranked it fourth among trench intercepts reported along the Oko Shear Contact, using grade multiplied by interval width.

The result came from the W1 anomaly, where nine trenches covered a combined sampled length of 2,478 metres. Six were deeper trenches extending more than three metres below surface. All six intersected gold mineralisation.

A Broad Surface Footprint

The deeper trenches outlined mineralisation across roughly 1.2 kilometres east-west and 1 kilometre north-south. Altair said the system remains open in every direction.

Other results included 16 metres at 1.32 grams per tonne in TR-W1-09. TR-W1-04 returned 10 metres at 1.42 grams per tonne, plus separate intervals of five metres at 1.06 grams per tonne and two metres at 1.64 grams per tonne.

TR-W1-08 intersected 10 metres at 1.13 grams per tonne. TR-W1-07 returned four metres at 1.06 grams per tonne, while TR-W1-05 produced five metres at 0.75 grams per tonne.

The assays used a 0.2 grams per tonne gold cut-off and allowed four metres of maximum internal dilution. True widths and the mineralisation’s geometry are not yet known.

Duricrust Limits Surface Testing

The strongest western trenches ended after encountering hardened duricrust, a leached laterite cap. Importantly, TR-W1-04 and TR-W1-06 intersected mineralisation near their western ends before termination.

Ground induced-polarisation chargeability and structural interpretation indicate the shear corridor continues west and southwest beneath that cover. Those interpreted extensions remain untested.

Altair said intense weathering causes leaching within the upper four to 15 metres. Deeper trenches reached saprolite, where structures and mineralisation were better preserved than in shallow trenches.

Chief Executive Officer Faheem Ahmed said: “The deep trench results now define mineralisation across a ~1.2km east-west by ~1.0km north-south footprint that remains open in all directions.”

Drilling Becomes the Next Test

Altair plans an imminent 15,000-metre reverse-circulation drilling program at South Oko. It will test below the duricrust and investigate the interpreted western and southwestern shear corridor.

Current trenching covers only an initial 1.5-kilometre section of roughly 14 kilometres of the Oko Shear Contact at South Oko. Surface geochemistry has covered about 3.5 kilometres of strike.

This is relevant because the same structural contact hosts more than 9 million ounces of gold across four deposits to the north. However, nearby discoveries do not guarantee a mineral resource at Altair’s project.

The trench results build on earlier soil, auger, grab-sample and geophysical work at W1. They provide in-situ surface targets for drilling, rather than establishing a resource.

Altair has the right to earn up to 70% of the Greater Oko Project, subject to conditions precedent.