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Lion One Metals (TSXV: LIO) has reported successful mining results marked by better-than-expected grades from underground developments at its wholly owned Tuvatu alkaline gold project in Fiji.
Face sampling of two separate lodes returned 19.91 grams per tonne (g/t) gold over the first 35 metres of mining and 9.60 g/t gold over the first 22.5 metres, respectively. The first lode, which had peak value of 246.79 g/t, is stronger than anticipated, while the second represents additional upside, the company said.
The lode system, called URW1, was originally modelled as a single lode with average grade of 14.05 g/t gold. This is the second lode being mined by the company since the discovery of lode URA1 in late 2022.
Lion One CEO Walter Berukoff said that the face samples are collected directly from the mining drive, and as such, provide the most accurate representation of the grade of the material being mined, adding the results to date are much greater than expected.
“These results provide the first comprehensive view of the grade distribution within these lodes. Tuvatu has once again outperformed and as underground developments progress we’re beginning to see the true potential of the system,” Berukoff said.
Located on the island of Viti Levu, Tuvatu is envisioned as a low-cost, high-grade underground gold mining operation with exploration upside. The project is fully permitted and is currently in the drilling stage to define and expand the known mineralization, with a view of upgrading the resource model.
The latest resource estimation for Tuvatu contains 1.0 million tonnes of indicated material at 8.5 g/t gold for 274,600 oz. of contained gold and 1.3 million tonnes inferred at 9.0 g/t Au for 384,000 oz. of gold.
In April 2023, Lion One commenced initial mining of near-surface, high-grade gold-bearing mineralization from lode URA1 following the completion of $25 million in financings to fund mine development. Mining of the URW1 lode followed a month later.
Shares of Lion One Metals were up 7.3% by 12:12 p.m. EDT following the Tuvatu mining results. The company has a market value of C$181.5 million ($138m).
