Liberty Gold triples TV Tower resource in Turkey

Liberty Gold (TSX: LGD; US-OTC: LGDTF) has released a new resource estimate for its majority-owned TV Tower project in Turkey, tripling the existing resource on a gold-equivalent basis compared with a previous estimate from 2014.

The estimate brings five new deposits at the 92-sq.-km project in western Turkey into resources. The previous 2014 resource included only the Kucukdag deposit.

In a press release, Cal Everett, President and CEO of Liberty Gold noted that while the company is focused on its U.S. gold projects, it wants to raise the profile of the TV Tower project as it assesses options to “crystallize value” from it for its shareholders.

“Multiple gold, copper and silver deposits occur within this large land package,” he said. “The six deposits discovered to date remain open for extension laterally and to depth. When the discoveries were made, drilling stayed focused until another deposit was identified and drill tested. TV Tower is still in the early stages of exploration and discovery.”

Liberty holds a 62.9% interest in the project, with a Turkish subsidiary of Teck Resources holding 37.1%.

The updated resource includes two primarily gold oxide deposits and three primarily gold-copper porphyry deposits, as well as the Kucukdag high-sulphidation epithermal deposit. Four of the five new deposits are contained in the South TVT area.

South TVT deposits (Valley, Yumrudag, Hilltop and Kayali) contain indicated resources (oxide, supergene copper and porphyry) of 59.2 million tonnes grading 0.28 gram gold per tonne and 0.17% copper for 540,000 oz. gold and 218.4 million lb. copper. Inferred resources add 104.5 million tonnes at 0.23 gram gold per tonne and 0.16% copper for 761,000 oz. gold and 359.6 million lb. copper.

A deposit in the North TVT resource area, located 7 km north of the South TVT resource area, has also been brought into resources. The Columbaz gold-copper porphyry contains an inferred resource of 35.5 million tonnes grading 0.36 gram gold per tonne, 0.12% copper (or 0.59 gram gold equivalent per tonne) for 409,000 oz. gold and 93,153 lb. copper.

A 2014 estimate for Kucukdag outlined indicated resources of 23.1 million grading 0.63 gram gold, 27.6 grams silver and 0.16% copper (or 1.34 grams gold equivalent) and inferred resources of 10.8 million tonnes grading 0.15 gram gold, 45.7 grams silver and 0.06% copper (or 1.01 grams gold equivalent).

Liberty Gold, part of the Oxygen Group of companies, is also advancing two Carlin-style, oxide gold projects in the Great Basin in the U.S.: Black Pine in Idaho and Goldstrike in Utah.

Geordie Mark, a mining analyst at Haywood Securities, described the resource as another “kernel of value for the company.”

“In our view, this secondary asset base now represents a meaningful host of resource value given not only the consolidated resource base presented today, but the favourable metallurgical profile afforded by oxide gold deposits showing amenable to heap-leach recovery potential, whereby initial column testing has returned encouraging results,” he commented in a research note to clients.

“With no further drilling planned on these assets over the near-term, we anticipate management will likely look to monetize value to support undiluted cash balances as it continues to undertake drilling at the primary Black Pine project.”

Mark has a buy rating on the company with a price target of $3.15 per share. At presstime in Toronto Liberty Gold was trading at $1.58 per share within a 52-week range of $0.88 and $2.40 per share.

“We continue to be encouraged by ongoing exploration success at Black Pine, and view the company to be well-positioned for resource growth over the near-term,” he wrote. “Furthermore, given the company’s oxide dominant asset base and attractive relative valuation, we view LGD to be a notable downstream M&A target in a tier-one jurisdiction.”