MetalsTech kicks off diamond drilling at Sturec gold-silver project in Slovakia; testing mineralisation at depth

Slovakian-focused silver-gold explorer MetalsTech (ASX:MTC) has kicked off diamond drilling at its 100% owned flagship Sturec development in Slovakia. 

Driller will perforate 5 holes from two targets designed to test the extent of gold and silver mineralisation at depth below depth cut-offs included in an existing JORC resource published in 2012. MetalsTech, earlier this year, was targeting a JORC upgrade by September. 

In silver and gold combined, Sturec boasts a mineral resource of 1Moz.

Of foremost interest to the drilling team is the same area on-site subject to prior drilling that produced an 89m long core section at 6.9 grams of gold per tonne of ore (6.9g/t) and 23.6g/t silver. 

Investor information provider Undervalued Equity classifies high-grade gold as that at and above 5g/t; while high-grade silver is qualified as at and above 50g/t. 

The second target is also a part of the tenement from which strong assay results have been produced. 

Mineralisation may continue southward 

Ultimately, the company hopes to prove mineralisation extends further to the south than previously known, and deeper underground. 

MetalsTech is hoping to develop and underground mine at Sturec; the results from this drill run will be incorporated into an upcoming Pre-Feasbility Study (PFS). 

Drilltesting to explore mineralisation at depth will focus on the Chamber IV target, for which pending assay results from earlier drilling are still pending. 

MetalsTech expects to have those back before 2023; but, may not publish them this calendar year. 

August scoping study underpinned potential 

MetalsTech shares climbed 12% in August when the company posted the results of a scoping study for the Sturec play. 

The following credentials were published by the study authors: 

• 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 

Processing plant infrastructure at Sturec will be manufactured in China, and not the EU, significantly lowering capex.

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