Aim-listed Lexington Gold says the number of primary drillholes at its Kroonstad gold project, in South Africa, have increased by 400%, from 12 to 64, with 73 drill deflections catalogued.

The company highlights that the Joint Ore Reserves Committee- (Jorc-) compliant exploration target estimation work is set for the fourth quarter of this year and that JSE-listed gold mining and exploration company Harmony Gold has granted access to a historic core area, which may provide Lexington with an additional verification opportunity.

The current aim of the Jorc exploration target programme seeks to increase a substantial part of Kroonstad’s existing independent non-code-compliant grade-tonnage estimate from six-million to 62-million ounces of gold, at grades of about 5 g/t to 11 g/t.

“We are materially expanding the geological information base, verifying and correlating that information and using it to build a modern 3D geological and structural model for Kroonstad.

“With 64 primary drillholes now incorporated into the database with 12 previously, we believe we have a substantially stronger technical foundation from which to define a robust Jorc exploration target for our Kroonstad project,” Lexington Gold CEO Dr Bernard Olivier says.

He says the expanded dataset is expected to provide a more robust basis for constraining mineralised volume and grade distribution.

However, environmental consultancy Shango has advised that the extent to which the existing historical range can be narrowed cannot be reliably assessed until completion of its geological modelling and estimation work.

Shango's remaining work programme extends beyond data digitisation and includes the completion of historical data acquisition, capture and validation, borehole collar confirmation, internal quality assurance/quality control, final stratigraphic correlation, 3D geological and structural modelling using Leapfrog Geo, estimation of appropriate upper and lower tonnage and grade ranges, and preparation of a Jorc-aligned technical report.

This work is designed to establish a coherent, traceable and auditable geological dataset as the technical foundation for the modelling and estimation work, and on completion, Shango also expects to provide recommendations on a future drilling strategy designed to further test and advance the project.

Lexington Gold says it currently anticipates providing substantive updates as the programme progresses through completion of database compilation and verification, 3D geological and structural modelling and subsequent Jorc exploration target estimation during the fourth quarter of this year.

“Such work should give us a far stronger platform for targeting future drilling and progressively advancing what we believe represents a potentially significant Witwatersrand gold opportunity beyond the Jorc exploration target stage,” Lexington Gold chairperson Ed Nealon says.