Erdene Resource Development Corp has commenced a drilling campaign at its high-grade gold projects in southwest Mongolia. Drilling is under way at the Bayan Khundii Gold Project and will be followed by drilling at the Altan Nar Gold-Polymetallic Project, 19km northwest of Bayan Khundii.

The first phase of the quarter 3 and quarter 4 campaign will consist of approximately 5000 metres of drilling designed to test the boundaries and build confidence in the continuity of the high-grade gold zones within the main mineralized trend at Bayan Khundii.

The size and design of the second phase will be determined following Erdene’s in-depth analysis of new data collected from an extensive technical evaluation completed in August 2016 at Bayan Khundii and Altan Nar.

The independent geological evaluation, which was conducted by renowned consultants with expertise in epithermal and porphyry mineral deposit systems, has given Erdene valuable insights into the geology and mineralizing processes that led to the formation of the Bayan Khundii prospect and the Altan Nar deposit.

It is expected that the second phase of the new drilling campaign will focus on the largely untested and highly prospective region within the 1.7km Bayan Khundii trend, and also resource expansion and scout drilling at the 5.6km Altan Nar trend.

“We are very pleased with the results of the independent expert evaluations. They provided key insights leading to the generation of new exploration targets, and further enhanced our understanding of the nature and significant exploration upside of our two flagship gold projects,” said Erdene’s president and CEO Peter Akerley.

“Our ongoing drill program has been designed to test these targets and better define the limits of the main mineralised zones. We anticipate the first batch of results to start arriving in early October, with results continuing throughout the fourth quarter of 2016.”

In quarter 2 of 2015, Erdene conducted an initial exploration program on the southern portion of its Khundii licence in southwest Mongolia. This reconnaissance work led to the discovery of the Bayan Khundii, low sulphidation epithermal gold prospect. Gold mineralisation has been identified over a 1.7km trend, with detailed exploration only taking place over a 500 metre by 350 metre zone in the southwest prospect area.