Alba Mineral Resources plc (AIM: ALBA) is pleased to provide an update on the Company's work activities at the Clogau-St David's Gold Mine (the 'Mine') where the latest results of the ongoing Phase 1 surface drilling programme have now enabled the Company to project the newly identified vein system at the Llechfraith mine area as having a strike extent of 58 metres.

Mark Austin, Alba's Chief Operating Officer, commented: 'All of our drilling to date has been aimed at providing us with critical geological and structural information on the lode systems previously mined at Clogau, so that we can assess if those same structures continue beyond the limits of the previously mined areas. To this end, the drilling at Llechfraith has been more successful than we could reasonably have anticipated: the physical attributes of the veins that we have intersected in our drill holes reflect the characteristics of the veins that were successfully mined in the past.'

'While we should await the results of the drill core assays before reaching any preliminary conclusions, the significant dimensions of the Llechfraith Lode, as defined by the drilling so far completed, indicate that this could well be a significant contributor to future production at Clogau-St David's.'

Details

Due to the ongoing success of the Phase 1 surface drilling campaign, the programme has now been extended to its tenth drill hole. To date, nine holes (LL001-LL009) have been completed for 981.6 metres. The tenth (and expected final hole), LL010, has now commenced and is expected to be approximately 130 m in length.

As announced on 5 October 2020, while the Phase 1 programme initially envisaged three drill holes in total being drilled from the first drill collar, the continued success of the drilling in intersecting the Llechfraith lode structure (the 'Llechfraith Lode') has led the Company to greatly expand its planned drilling from the same collar to a total of ten holes, in order to more accurately define the total depth and width extent of the lode structure.

This Phase 1 surface drilling programme is targeting mineralisation below the existing mine workings at the Llechfraith mine area, thus testing the continuation of mineralisation at depth. By stepping out the drilling so that the drill collar was set further away from the mine area, the current phase of drilling has been designed to intersect the quartz vein at a higher, and therefore more favourable, angle to dip. This has so far proved successful, given the significant widths of quartz vein which have been intersected.

Although LL007 was stopped after 17.5 m due to deviation from the planned azimuth, LL008 was successfully drilled through to intersect the target lode structure at 103.99 m, with the lode structure being 1.49 m thick here, one of the thickest vein intercepts drilled in the current programme. The hole showed a shift to a more sulphide-rich vein mineralogy from previous holes in most of its intercepts.

Hole LL009 also showed an increased sulphide abundance in the lode intercepts at 85.8 m (1 m thick), 104.65 m (0.15 m thick) and 106.8 m (0.6 m thick). Sample assays of these vein intercepts will help determine if this mineralogical change has implications for gold mineralisation. While the target structure is relatively thin, overall, in LL009, the structure remains unconstrained to the west of this intercept, presenting targets for future drilling phases. Preliminary logging suggests that LL009 encounters the target structure at 106.8 m, some 58.6 m away from the vein intercept in LL006 which represents the likely eastern margin of the pay-shoot. For the first time, then, the Company is able to project the strike length of the projected Llechfraith Lode as being 58 metres wide by 66 metres deep.

The extended Phase 1 surface drilling programme has enabled the Company to more clearly define the target lode structure and helped to identify the precise location of the additional quartz veins in the immediate vicinity of the Llechfraith workings.

The Company is in discussion with contractors to assess the opening up of the Llechfraith Lode, both to allow for preliminary bulk sampling and testwork via the Company's existing pilot processing plant but also to allow for possible commercial-scale mining in the future. Opening up the lode will also provide fresh exposure for the Company's technical team to further assess the geology of the pay shoot.

LL010 is expected to be the final hole in the Phase 1 programme, and the hole is projected to intercept the target structure an additional 30 m below the deepest target intercept in LL009. This could have significant implications for the scale of mineralisation at Llechfraith.

Once this Phase has been completed, as announced on 2 December 2020 the next phase of surface drilling (Phase 2) will consist of an 8-10 hole programme for around 2,000 metres. This phase of drilling will target the 550 m Main Lode extension indicated by the recently completed underground drilling and will also seek to intersect the projected depth extensions of certain historically worked lodes, namely Grandfathers Lode and the 7-10 Lode.

The Company hopes to start Phase 2 as soon as Phase 1 completes, subject to timely receipt of regulatory approvals which are in progress.

All activities and timelines in this announcement are subject to the timely receipt of regulatory and other third-party consents and to the timely availability of contractors, plant and equipment.

This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of EU Regulation 596/2014.

Forward Looking Statements

This announcement contains forward-looking statements relating to expected or anticipated future events and anticipated results that are forward-looking in nature and, as a result, are subject to certain risks and uncertainties, such as general economic, market and business conditions, competition for qualified staff, the regulatory process and actions, technical issues, new legislation, uncertainties resulting from potential delays or changes in plans, uncertainties resulting from working in a new political jurisdiction, uncertainties regarding the results of exploration, uncertainties regarding the timing and granting of prospecting rights, uncertainties regarding the timing and granting of regulatory and other third party consents and approvals, uncertainties regarding the Company's or any third party's ability to execute and implement future plans, and the occurrence of unexpected events.

Without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing, uncertainties also exist in connection with the ongoing Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic which may result in further lockdown measures and restrictions being imposed by Governments and other competent regulatory bodies and agencies from time to time in response to the pandemic, which measures and restrictions may prevent or inhibit the Company from executing its work activities according to the timelines set out in this announcement or indeed from executing its work activities at all. The Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic may also affect the Company's ability to execute its work activities due to personnel and contractors testing positive for COVID-19 or otherwise being required to self-isolate from time to time.

Competent Person Declaration

The information in this release that relates to Exploration Results has been reviewed by Mr Mark Austin. Mr Austin is a member of SACNASP (Reg. No. 400235/06), Fellow of The Geological Society and Fellow of the Geological Society of South Africa. He has a B.Sc. Honours in Geology with 38 years' experience.

Mark Austin has sufficient experience that is relevant to the style of mineralisation and type of deposit under consideration and to the activity being undertaken to qualify as a Competent Person as defined in the 2012 Edition of the 'Australasian Code for Reporting of Exploration targets, Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves', also known as the JORC Code. The JORC code is a national reporting organisation that is aligned with CRIRSCO. Mr Austin consents to the inclusion in the announcement of the matters based on his information in the form and context in which they appear.

Contact:

George Frangeskides

Tel: +44 20 3950 0725

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