Ardiden Limited (ASX: ADV) ('Ardiden' or 'the Company') is pleased to announce the first exploration drilling results from its fully funded 2023 drill campaign at its 100%-owned Pickle Lake Gold Project.
The District-Scale Pickle Lake Gold Project consists of 1,088 km2 of highly prospective and connective landholdings in the wellendowed Uchi Geological sub-province, located east of Red Lake in Northwestern Ontario, Canada. The current drill program is designed to test the large mineralisation halo and the semi-massive to massive sulphide sequence identified in Ardiden's 2022 drilling program at both the Dorothy and Dobie prospects. Specifically, DR-22-01, which reported 5.0m @ 4.69 g/t from 57.00m, including a broader envelope of 31.85m @ 1.57 g/t (Refer ASX 17 August 2022) and DB-22-01 which intercepted 8.05m @ 4.05 g/t Au, including a broader envelope of 26.51m @ 2.07 g/t (Refer ASX 26 September 2022). Dorothy became the focus of the current program due to the width of the drilled anomalous zones, and the large number of cross-cutting structures interpreted as potential fluid feeders from the primary structure into these broad secondary and tertiary structures, which run parallel to and through the project tenements
Greg Romain, MD & CEO, commented: 'I am extremely pleased with the first set of results announced from the Dorothy Prospect. This confirms our thesis by demonstrating broad gold mineralisation and is one of the main reasons I joined the Company. I believe this to be an exciting opportunity for Ardiden, given its large land position in the shadow of historical mines and the Company being well-funded to undertake the necessary work to further unlock the potential at its Pickle Lake Gold Project.'
The assay results for the first eight holes have confirmed that the mineralisation is consistent with the geological model with results revealing that the tertiary structure does produce wide anomalous mineralised zones. The current program has been extended beyond the original plan of 3,250m to cover a greater strike length and ensure continuity of the highly prospective areas within the tertiary structure. Drilling will continue until the end of May and is estimated to complete a total of up to 5,000m.
2023 Exploration Programe
As announced on 3 March 2023, work commenced on a planned 3,250 metresshallow diamond drilling program at Dorothy which forms part of Ardiden's 100%-owned Pickle Lake Gold Project. The Company has completed 3,496 metres with 20 diamond drill holes to date and is expected to drill approximately 1,500 additional metres through the current extension until the end of May, bringing the total for this drill program to approximately 5,000 metres. The holes have been planned at 100-300m spacings up to 150m target depth. The fully funded drill program remains focused on the broad, anomalous mineralised zones intercepted in the tertiary structure identified during the 2022 drill program, where wide, low, and medium-grade mineralisation halo were identified at both the Dorothy and Dobie prospects
Dorothy has a series of parallel structures that run adjacent to the high-grade primary structure that strikes to the northwest and plunges steeply to the northeast. Drilling is currently testing the broad low-medium grade system on the tertiary structure that was intersected during the Fall 2022 drilling campaign. The current drilling program is also testing whether the strike extends over 2.5km. Dorothy's tertiary structure displays a consistent lithological sequence downhole with medium to coarse gabbro's, magnetite-rich diorite, and basalt rocks present. Within these, a series of shear zones, intense alteration and brecciation remain consistent, along with multiple intrusives that appear pre- and postmineralisation. The presence of intense quartz-carbonate alteration zones, massive magnetite zones and semimassive to massive sulphides that consist of predominantly pyrite and pyrrhotite, along with minor chalcopyrite, are present within the first eight holes drilled.
Drill holes DR-23-08 through to DR-23-10 displayed intervals of 19.5m-28.0m of between 0.26 g/t - 0.44 g/t Au from shallows depths of between 28.13m - 53.0m. These broad composite intervals are consistent and support the interpretation in the current geological model. The remaining 2,500m of tertiary structure strike is being tested in the remainder of the program. The Company also identified broad low-medium grade mineralisation and comparable lithologies at its Dobie prospect from its 2022 test drilling. Dobie is situated 7km southeast of the Dorothy prospect and sits within the secondary structure. The Dorothy and Dobie prospects have over 20km of untested strike in both the secondary and tertiary structures, along with several additional structures. These were identified by Ardiden with the assistance of renowned structural geologist Leigh Rankin and Southern Geoscience Consultants as part of the current geological model.
Competent Persons Statement
The information in this report that relates to Exploration Results and Exploration Targets at the Pickle Lake Project is based on, and fairly represents, information and supporting documentation prepared by Mr Haydn Daxter, a Member of the Australian Institute of Geoscientists. Mr Daxter is a full-time employee at Ardiden Limited. Mr Daxter has sufficient experience which is relevant to the style of mineralisation and type of deposit and to the activity which they are undertaking to qualify as a Competent Person as defined in the 2012 Edition of the 'Australasian Code for Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves'. Mr Daxter consents to the inclusion in this report of the matters based on this information in the form and context in which it appears.
Contact:
Greg Romain
Tel: +1 647 300 5417
About Ardiden
Ardiden is focused on systematic gold exploration at its 100%-Owned Pickle Lake Gold Project in the well-endowed Uchi Geological Subprovince of Northwestern Ontario, Canada. The Company's 1,088 km2District-Scale Gold Project is the largest continuous gold land holding in the Uchi Belt, where Barrick, Newmont, Kinross, and Evolution all hold significant gold mine and exploration assets. Ardiden's strategic landholding is situated on the same geological belt as Red Lake, the 'Uchi' Subprovince, which has produced over 30M oz of gold to date and where new Tier-1 gold discoveries are still being made, such as Great Bear Resources' Dixie Project, which is now under new ownership following the successful CAD$1.6 billion acquisition by Kinross. In addition to its Pickle Lake Gold Project, Ardiden has retained 13 million shares in Green Technology Metals (ASX:GT1) which it acquired as part proceeds from the sale of Ardiden's lithium assets.
ARDIDEN LIMITED 
