Arkadian Strategic Metals (AIM:AKN), the AIM-listed strategic metals and gold exploration company, on Monday told investors that pressure washing and sampling at the Jack Williams stope within its 100%-owned Clogau-St David's Gold Mine in north Wales have exposed vein sections beyond the historically mined entrance stope.
The work follows access construction completed on 26 August, when ladders and platforms were installed to reach the stope, part of the Main Lode, the principal quartz-vein structure behind most of Clogau's historic gold production.
Twenty-one samples have been collected so far from the upper Jack Williams west drive, covering laminated quartz-shale veining, sulphide mineralisation and rock contacts, with laboratory assays and mineralogical work still to come.
Separately, hand-panning of historic floor material being excavated around one of the mine's shafts has identified what the company believes are particles of visible gold, which will be independently verified by third-party assaying or refining.
The floor material is being dug in one-metre-square sections down to bedrock and transported to Arkadian's onsite pilot plant for concentrating, with concentrates then sent to the company's usual third-party laboratory for assay.
"The work we have advanced at Clogau on several fronts demonstrates our confidence about the mine's exploration potential," said George Frangeskides, executive chairman, adding that the floor material finds provide "an encouraging focus for excavation and processing through our pilot plant."
Natural Resources Wales has also renewed the mine's European Protected Species Licence through to 31 March 2032, a considerably longer term than previous renewals, covering work in the Lower Llechfraith mine system.
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Preliminary portable X-ray fluorescence screening at Jack Williams detected cobalt and arsenic in pink surface staining, provisionally identified as cobalt arsenate, while apparent gold signals from the same screening remain unverified and are not being reported as gold grades.
The vein narrows westwards and disappears from the washed exposure at a southward bend, with further washing and mapping planned to trace its possible continuation.
Arkadian said it would provide a further update once the mineralogical results from Jack Williams have been received and technically reviewed.