MetalsTech hits more high-grade gold at its Slovakian Sturec play; present near surface

MetalsTech (ASX:MTC) shares are up 5% in late morning trade to 42c as the company unveils new high-grade gold hits at its Sturec gold-silver mine in EU member state Slovakia. 

Today’s results are borne from an infill drilling run. The company notes to its shareholders that due to the acute angle of drilling, true thickness is distorted in today’s results.

Investors will have a better idea of thickness in the near future, with more surface drilling to commence soon. 

What has MetalsTech found at Sturec? 

Investor information provider Undervalued Equity classifies high-grade gold as that above five grams of gold per tonne (5g/t), but many Australian projects boasting 4g/t results are also widely accepted as high grade projects. 

Silver, meanwhile, is considered high grade in concentrations over 50g/t. 

Compare that to today’s results: 

Drillhole UGA-43

• 04m @ 3.67g/t gold and 22.3g/t silver from 12m depth 

• 12m @ 2.26g/t gold and 13.5g/t silver from 40m depth 

• 07m @ 5.83g/t gold and 18.8g/t silver from 150m depth 

Drillhole UGA-44 

• 23m @ 2.53g/t gold and 20.3g/t silver from 05m depth

• 07m @ 1.58g/t gold and 27.3g/t silver from 87m depth

Drilling continues at the Chamber IV and Drill Chamber II targets, which geotechs are hopeful will return results that allow the company to confirm an extension to gold mineralisation further south. 

Once drilling those two targets are complete; surface drilling will commence (as opposed to the infill drilling run reported today.) 

JORC upgrade precedes PFS 

Back in August, a scoping study for the Sturec project confirmed a combined gold and silver resource over 1Moz. 

Later that same month, the company flagged that it would be further upgrading its JORC resource in September. 

While that process has been delayed, the ongoing drilling at the two Chamber targets; plus the surface drilling to follow, will both add to the resource (should the gold be there.) 

MetalsTech notes the surface drilling will test vertical depths that lie underneath the existing depth captured by the JORC resource where the geotech teach is confident further gold is deposited. 

Once the JORC is upgraded, the company will then move to pre-feas. 

Scoping Study promising 

It’s worth recapping the results of the scoping study published in August. The big takeaways: 

• Pre-tax value of $853m 

• Post-tax value of $650m 

• 15 year Life of Mine (LoM) 

• Pre-production spend of $93.27m 

• Total pre-tax cashflows of $1.5bn 

• Internal rate of return at 102.5% 

• Capital payback of 2.3 years from first production 

• Total capital cost of $119m

MetalsTech's six month shares demonstrate the equity's ability to withstand a risk-off macro environment

Disclaimer: Market Index helps small-cap ASX listed companies connect with Australian investors through clear and concise articles on key developments. MetalsTech was a client at the time of publishing. All coverage contains factual information only and should not be interpreted as an opinion or financial advice.