Alderan Resources Limited announced assay results for the first six holes in the recently completed reverse circulation (RC) drilling programme at its Mizpah oxide gold prospect, at the Detroit project in the Drum Mountains region of western Utah, USA.1 The programme consisted of 22 holes (1,797m) focused on intersecting high-grade near-surface oxide gold mineralisation. Assay results for the remaining 16 Mizpah holes plus one hole at Drum are expected in coming weeks. All holes were sampled over five-foot (1.52m) intervals and sent to ALS in Nevada for gold analysis.

Mizpah, previously drilled in the 1980's, sits in the same rocks as the historical Drum gold mine 2km to the south, but unlike Drum it was never developed into a mining operation. Alderan's drilling confirms Mizpah gold mineralisation starts from surface with all holes traversing predominantly fine-grained siltstones and sandstones with lesser carbonates and marbles of the Tatow unit before moving into quartzites of the Lower Pioche Formation. The downhole rocks are oxidised from surface to depths ranging from 7-32m and then typically move into a mixed oxidised-reduced (transition) zone and end in reduced (un-oxidised) sulphidic sediments.

Mizpah is located 2km north of the historical Drum heap leach oxide gold mine which produced 125,000 oz of goldfrom ore grading 1.2g/t Au between 1984-89. Alderan drilled eight diamond holes at Drum in H1, 2022 with all verification holes intersecting gold including 6.6m @ 2.5g/t Au within 17.8m @ 1.7g/t Au in hole 9DD22-003. Alderan also re-drilled Drum hole 9DD22-007 which was abandoned prior to reaching its target depth.

9DD22-007 intersected 15.9m @ 0.42g/t Au in waste dump material at the top of the hole and 5.9m @ 1.2g/t Au at the bottom of the hole. The Mizpah deposit was drilled in the mid-1980s by Western States Minerals, the same company that discovered and operated the Drum mine, and it covers an area of approximately 450m x 250m. Using the historical drilling data, Alderan completed drill hole constrained modelling of the Mizpah deposit which indicated exploration potential for approximately 40-100Koz of gold grading approximately 0.4-0.8g/t Au.

This modelling however highlighted that the deposit remains open down dip to the southwest and along strike to the north and south. It should be noted that this exploration potential quantity and grade is conceptual in nature and there has been insufficient exploration to estimate a Mineral Resource and that it is uncertain if further exploration will result in the estimation of a Mineral Resource. Alderan drillholes DDMZ20-006 and 3DDMZ-001 drilled in 2020 and 2022 and located 190m and 350m to the west-northwest of the deposit, intersected 83m @ 0.41g/t Au and 69.5m @ 0.18g/t Au respectively and indicate that Mizpah's mineralising system is significantly larger than historically outlined.

Alderan's RC drilling programme aimed to intersect near surface, high-grade gold mineralisation. Historical drill holes at Mizpah with high-grade, near-surface gold mineralised intersections in close proximity to Alderan's RC holes include: MZ-049: 10.7m @ 2.2g/t Au within 15.2m @ 1.6g/t Au from surface, MZ-87-32: 9.2m @ 2.1g/t Au within 22.9m @ 1.0g/t Au from 3.0m downhole, MZ-87-048: 10.7m @ 2.0g/t Au within 16.8m @ 1.4g/t Au from 3.1m downhole, MZ-87-52: 13.7m @ 1.7g/t Au within 29.0m @ 0.9g/t Au from 15.2m downhole with last assay 9.1g/t Au, MZ-093: 12.2m @ 1.7g/t Au from surface, MZ-17: 10.7m @ 1.7g/t Au within 18.3m @ 1.2 g/t Au from surface. Following Alderan completing soil sampling at Detroit in 2021, four distinct gold anomalous zones were identified within the target host stratigraphy - Mizpah and Drum plus the new Basin Main and Midway targets.

There are also a number of spot highs along lines which require further investigation. The C-horizon soil samples were collected every 40m along 200m and 400m spaced lines however lines were widely spaced and there were sampling gaps. Alderan has now infilled the soil lines to 100m spacings and the gaps along lines in priority areas to better define the anomalies with results expected in November, 2022.

Basin Main, which occurs over two lines 800m north of Mizpah, is the most prominent gold anomaly in the soil survey. It consists of a 480m long zone with grades ranging from 0.02-0.322ppm Au on its northern line and a 400m long zone with grades of 0.023-0.042ppm Au over a 160m zone on the line 200m to the south. The Midway anomaly sits between the Drum and Mizpah deposits.

Midway has high order gold in soil assays which range from 0.034-0.189ppm Au and sit within a broader 240m anomalous zone along the line. For reference, the Mizpah gold in soil anomaly, which Alderan drilling has now demonstrated sits above gold mineralisation which extends from surface to depths of more than 40m, has gold grades of 0.038-0.155ppm Au. Alderan expects to receive assay results for the remaining 16 RC drill holes at Mizpah, the re-drilled hole at Drum and the infill soil samples at Detroit in the fourth quarter of 2022.

Pending assay results, the planned work at Detroit includes early `sighter' metallurgical testing to obtain an indication of gold metallurgical recoveries and further drilling at Mizpah. The environmental assessment required to obtain permitting for further drilling at Drum is underway. The Detroit Project is one of four Alderan projects in Utah, USA.

It lies within the Detroit Mining District, approximately 175km southwest of Salt Lake City, and contains numerous historical copper, gold and manganese mines. The district has been explored for copper and gold in the past by major mining companies such as Anaconda Copper, Kennecott, Newmont, BHP and Freeport-McMoRan but no one company was able to build a significant contiguous land position to enable district-wide modern exploration. The United States Geological Survey (USGS) has also explored the area, sampling extensive mineralised jasperoids.