Almaden Minerals Ltd. (AAU) stock prices were down a marginal 2.03% as of the market closing on June 17th, 2021, bringing the price per share down to USD$0.5058 at the end of the trading day. Subsequent premarket trading has seen the stock remain stable as of the time of writing.
Completion of Ixtaca IP Program
The company announced on June 14th, 2021 that it had successfully completed a surface-induced polarization geophysical (IP) program at its Ixtaca deposit in Mexico. The work being conducted was designed to help isolate drill targets under the area of hydrothermal alteration called the Southeast Alteration zone, as well as at depth beneath the Ixtaca deposit.
Results of IP Program
The data collected will continue to be processed and combined with historic geologic, geochemical, and geophysical data. AAU hopes that these results will facilitate the identification of additional discrete targets for a future diamond drill program. This program will serve to test for potential blind zones of veining under the Southeast Alteration zone, which is mostly covered with overlying clay alteration similar to that in the SE alteration zone. The discovery drill hole in the original Ixtaca deposit area was planned partly due to high resistivity and chargeability results obtained in an earlier IP geophysical survey.
SE Alteration Zone
The SE Alteration zone is made up of white argillic volcanics and clusters of anomalies that were identified from a hyperspectral survey. This survey included spectral signatures of important epithermal alteration minerals such as kaolinite, alunite, and buddingtonite. November 2020 saw the company announce the discovery of a network of veining cropping out within the SE Alteration zone. Seventeen samples of the veining were collected and submitted to ALS Global in Mexico for analysis.
Analysis of Samples
Sixteen of the samples returned below detection gold and silver, with the odd one out returning a value of 62 ppb gold. Despite the outcrops being leached and weathered, however, many of the samples exhibited higher values for epithermal pathfinder elements, which are commonly found in the higher parts of epithermal alteration zones. These findings are highly promising in their support of the company’s claim that the SE Alteration zone has the potential to represent higher levels of a potential underlying epithermal system.
Future Outlook for AAU
Equipped with the recent development of the potential of its digsites, AAU is poised to capitalize on the opportunities presented to it to return to its trajectory of growth. Current and potential investors are hopeful that management will leverage the resources at their disposal to facilitate significant and sustained increases in shareholder value.
