Auteco Minerals Chairman Ray Shorrocks' bold prediction from last October that his Pickle Crow Gold Project could reach the two-million-ounce mark in resources by this winter has apparently come to pass.
The Australian gold explorer, which is poking around the former Pickle Crow Mine near Pickle Lake, announced a new resource estimate for its project, which now stands at 2.23 million ounces, averaging 7.89 grams of gold per tonne, all in the inferred category. The resource update was compiled from 30,000 metres of drill data.
The company said the latest gold resource estimate is up by 30 per cent - 514,000 ounces - since the last estimate six months ago. Auteco contends its exploration success has elevated Pickle Crow to "world-scale status."
The fast-moving program the company has run has recorded 1.23 million ounces of resources in the ground since September 2020. Auteco believes Pickle Crow's gold system offers plenty of upside.
Five drilling rigs are on the property this winter running a 50,000-metre program with more assay results expected over the next few weeks. That campaign wraps up next month.
For the remainder of this year, Auteco said it'll follow a dual track approach to exploration with a combination of drilling in and around the existing gold resource and also stepping out over its 500-square-kilometre land tenure to size up some choice targets. Those results will start trickling by June.
In surpassing the two-million-ounce mark, Shorrocks said in a news release that Pickle Crow "has joined an exclusive club" among global gold players.
“It speaks volumes about the quality of the Pickle Crow system that we added more than half-a-million ounces to the resource in just six months and at a cost of less than A$20 an ounce. “This means we have created substantial value for shareholders and also demonstrates the immense potential for ongoing increases in the inventory.”
