Year 2020 Seems to be Ruling in Favor of Middle Island, Up 5x Know Why!

Summary

• Gold has outperformed the Australian benchmark index ASX200 in 2020 as investors rush to safe haven assets in coronavirus crisis.
• Backed by a remarkable performance of gold and sound fundamental decisions, Middle Island has delivered an exceptional return of over 460 per cent on a YTD basis.
• While the Company reported several significant developments in 2020, the success of its Phase 1 RC drilling campaign was the real showstopper.
• Middle Island is progressing considerably well with its Phase 2 drilling campaign, that has so far returned significant intersections at Ridge Deposit.

The year 2020 has been a dreadful one for global economies. In a bid to fight the pandemic and the slowing economy, the governments and central banks across the world have taken unprecedented actions such as imposing lockdowns, easing money flow into the system, lowering interest rates and offering robust stimulus packages. In such a backdrop, investors are in favor of yellow metal that has generated a return of around 16 per cent in 2020 till date.

It is interesting to note that gold has outperformed the Australian benchmark index, S&P/ASX 200, which has generated a negative YTD return of about 10 per cent. A rush to safe haven assets amidst growing uncertainty seems to be fueling demand for products like gold coins, jewelry and gold bars; however, a major chunk of the demand is also coming in from the central banks.

Besides, a continuing increase in coronavirus cases and mounting US-China tensions are supporting a flight to safety on gold, enabling spot gold to hold above the key USD 1,800 mark.

Backed by a remarkable performance of gold in 2020, Australia-based gold explorer, Middle Island Resources Limited (ASX:MDI) has delivered an exceptional return of over 460 per cent on a YTD basis. Besides gold price movement, Middle Island’s sound fundamental steps towards its goal of recommissioning Sandstone processing plant at the earliest possible opportunity supported the rise in Company’s stock price.

While Middle Island has reported several significant developments in 2020 so far, the success of its Phase 1 RC drilling campaign was the real showstopper.

The Company embarked on a major open pit drilling campaign at Sandstone project in January this year, which comprised an initial aircore program, followed by two phases of reverse circulation (RC) drilling and an oxide diamond coring program. While the Company finalised the aircore drilling program in late January, it kick-started a substantial multi-rig RC drilling campaign in February this year.

The 13,400m, Phase 1, RC drilling program tested around fourteen gold deposits and prospects, situated within 4km range of Sandstone processing plant.

The open pit targets comprised six existing deposits (the Two Mile Hill, Shillington, Wirraminna, Goat Farm, Twin Shafts and Plum Pudding) and eight additional prospects (Ridge, McIntyre, McClaren, Old Town Well, Davis, Tailings (South & East), Wirraminna Laterite (East & West) prospects, and the G2 & G3 gravity targets).

The highly successful Phase 1 drilling campaign identified five new gold deposits at McClaren, McIntyre, Ridge, Old Town Well and Plum Pudding. Below are the key outcomes from Phase 1 RC drilling program:

McClaren Prospect: A bonanza intercept of 4m at 90.6g/t Au (from 60m in MSRC341), accompanied by an adjacent intercept of 8m at 3.35g/t Au (from 52m in MSRC342).

McIntyre Prospect: New, consistent, shallow drill intercepts including 24m at 1.66g/t (from surface in MSRC351), 18m at 1.35g/t Au (from 32m depth in MSRC354), 23m at 1.40g/t (from 11m depth in MSRC352) and 11m at 1.39g/t (from 25m depth in MSRC353).

Old Town Well Prospect: Broad, consistent, shallow drill intercepts over a 60m aggregate width and 340m strike length, including 20m at 0.87g/t (from 32m depth in MSRC366), 8m at 2.17g/t (from 24m depth in MSRC368) and 8m at 1.45g/t Au (from 36m depth in MSRC371).

Plum Pudding Prospect: New RC drill intercepts including 3m at 3.72g/t (from 29m in MSRC 420), 10m at 3.08g/t (from 41m depth in MSRC420), 2m at 4.98g/t (from 33m in MSRC 421), 3m at 3.72g/t (from 29m depth in MSRC420), 2m at 4.98g/t (from 33m in MSRC 421) and 12m at 0.93g/t Au (from 39m depth in MSRC421).

Ridge Prospect: MDI mapping, a geophysical review and reassessment of drilling results identified mineralised BIF and metasediments at the Ridge prospect, including historic intercepts of 13m at 3.81g/t, 8m at 4.14g/t, 5m at 3.81g/t, 9m at 2.21g/t and 3m @ 8.77g/t Au.

Following an extremely successful Phase 1 RC drilling campaign, Middle Island is progressing considerably well with its Phase 2 drilling campaign, comprising ~13,800m of resource definition RC drilling and HQ3 oxide diamond coring program. While the initial Phase 2 RC drilling at Ridge Deposit has returned significant intersections from drill holes MSRC530, MSRC544 and MSRC545, the company believes further exciting results from the campaign are likely to be shared in the near future.

MDI closed the trading session at $0.022 on 16^th July 2020.