Kazakhstan brings the gold for Ivanhoe

Ivanhoe Mines (IVN-T, IVN-N) could have its hands on another world class asset, this time in Kazakhstan.

Altynalmas Gold – a company that Ivanhoe holds a 50% stake in – released an updated Mineral Resource estimate for a new deposit at its wholly owned Kyzyl gold project, and the results compliment an already robust resource at the site.

The latest resources are the first ever on the new Bakyrchik East deposit and came in at 6.8 million tonnes of inferred resources grading 6.0 grams of gold per tonne for 1.3 million oz. of gold.

That gold rich tonnage comes on top of the Bakyrchik deposit, which also sits on the property and has an indicated resource of 22.16 million tonnes grading 8.72 grams gold for 6.2 million oz. and inferred resources of 9.67 million tonnes grading 7.43 grams gold for 2.3 million oz.

Bakyrchik East is made up of the Globoki Log and Promezhutochny zones and sits 800 metres east along strike from the edge of Bakyrchik within the Kyzyl shear zone.

Kyzyl sits in northeastern Kazakhstan roughly 1,100 km north-east of Almaty, the country’s largest city.

Altynalmas is pushing ahead on a 60,000 metre drill program as it looks to expand and upgrade the categories of the resource estimate.

The first half of the year alone saw 42,667 metres drilled with highlight intercepts of 23 metres grading 12.04 grams gold; 15 metres grading 14.03 grams gold; 22 metres grading 13.20 grams gold and 32 metres grading 13.09 grams gold.

Recent drilling activities have been focused on exploring the down-dip extensions of known gold resources, as well as on the flanks of known gold lenses.

Gold resources at Bakyrchik East are hosted in two lenses made up of more than 20 sub-zones that all together measure 2,000 metres along strike by 1,500 metres down dip, with mineralization extending from surface to 800 metres.

Ivanhoe’s chief executive, Robert Friedland, also serves as Altynalmas’s chairman.