Altoro expands Emilia zinc system beyond 100 metres
Altoro Metals says underground drilling has expanded the apparent width of the Emilia zinc mineralised system beyond 100 metres, although assays from nine holes are still pending. The company is combining four historical workings into one Novales Project as it prepares further drilling, a resource upgrade and mine restart documents.
- Emilia mineralised zone observed across more than 100 metres
- Assays pending from nine underground Emilia holes
- Udías core shows strongly mineralised intervals, with results due shortly
- Twenty-hole surface programme approved across 15 drill pads
- Novales MRE upgrade targeted for Q1 2027
Emilia drilling expands the apparent mineralised footprint
Altoro Metals Limited (ASX:ARO) has substantially increased the apparent scale of its Emilia zinc system, with underground drilling and geological logging indicating mineralisation extends across more than 100 metres. The company says the system is high-grade, tightly structurally controlled and multi-directional, but the width is based on observations from drilling and logging rather than released assay results.
Core from the first nine underground holes at Emilia has been sent to ALS Seville for analysis. That leaves the most important qualification still outstanding: the assays needed to establish grade, continuity and the potential resource significance of the wider zone.
Udías adds a second set of pending results
Underground drilling at Udías has also been completed in a targeted zone. Altoro’s initial field review identified strongly mineralised core over multiple-metre lengths, with the company expecting to report Udías and Emilia assay results shortly.
The two programmes are material to Altoro’s plan to upgrade the Novales Project’s JORC Mineral Resource Estimate by the first quarter of 2027. Until the assays arrive, however, the reported widths and visual observations remain exploration indicators rather than a measure of economic mineralisation.
Four historical workings folded into Novales
Altoro is now treating San José, Udías, Emilia and Margarita as a single integrated Novales Project. The decision follows the company’s assessment of a connected mineralised trend extending for more than 12 kilometres, and expands the development framework beyond the central historical workings used in the original mine restart study.
Asturmine has been engaged to design an optimised drill-spacing model after reviewing the project on site. Altoro says the model will guide future drilling intended to convert newly identified mineralisation into Measured and Indicated resource categories, though that conversion will depend on results that have not yet been delivered.
Surface drilling and restart permitting move forward
Landowner access agreements are in place for an initial 20-hole surface drilling campaign across 15 confirmed pads. The first phase will target the corridor between the central Novales workings and Emilia, with rigs and personnel due to move across after the maiden programme at Altoro’s Guajaraz Project in central Spain is completed.
At the same time, the company has appointed an additional external senior mining engineer to support its local technical director in finalising the Mine and Plant Project and Restoration Plan. Altoro is targeting submission to Cantabrian mining authorities by the end of 2026, while a recent site review by Non-Executive Director Myles Campion identified potential efficiencies in the restart strategy. The company also cited the LME zinc price recently passing US$4,000 a tonne as part of the rationale for accelerating the work.
Bottom Line?
The next value-defining step is not the 100-metre observation but the assays that show how much of that width is mineralised, continuous and potentially recoverable.
Questions in the middle?
- Will the Emilia assays confirm high grades across the reported 100-metre mineralised width?
- Can Udías, Emilia and Margarita add enough defined tonnage to materially reshape the updated JORC resource?
- Will the planned year-end permitting submission translate into a credible timetable for restarting Novales?
