
Exploration work is underway at the Chaarat deposit. It is planned to drill about 10 thousand meters this year. In addition, surface works are being carried out (mainly trenches and road cuts are being dug) to determine anomalous (ore-bearing) zones exposed on surface in all the prospective areas.
Three types of drilling are planned as part of the 2021 program. The first one is so called exploration resource definition drilling at the Tulkubash site for resource upgrade and extension, on the north-eastern flank of the deposit. Further to northeast exploration drill testing is planned on Karator and Ishakuldy sites targeting discovery and initial evaluation of new promising zones, as well as delineating those already identified. The second aim of the 2021 drilling campaign is metallurgical drilling and testing of the Kyzyltash deposit to determine the most appropriate technology for extracting gold from rebellious(refractory) ores. The third aim is geotechnical drilling, logging, testing at the site of the future Tulkubash open pit to study the mining and technical conditions and properties of rocks (this is necessary to determine the optimal development parameters).
The “core” drilling is a conventional method of drilling, wide used in metal exploration, with core extraction (the core is a “column” of rock, not disturbed when it is raised to the surface for detail geological and geotechnical logging and testing.