The company noted the project area had been studied broadly to understand whether the geological area included the main conditions required for orogenic gold mineralisation, and work done so far had shown it did exhibit all the key criteria.

Rupert CEO James Withall said the interpretation was the culmination of a number of work programmes over the past year and demonstrated the results of the systematic approach taken towards exploration at the project.

"The company acquired a vast amount of existing data with the Pahtavaara asset and has been able to combine that with high resolution UAV magnetic surveys and updated geological and structural mapping, to develop a comprehensive new regional structural geological and mineralisation model", he said.

"The results demonstrate the potential for further significant orogenic gold occurrences to be discovered within the licence area held by the company."

Rupert said its current summer fieldwork was progressing well, with the six field geologists already having covered over 100sq.km of the higher priority mapping areas in the western extents of the 290sq.km licence area.

They had found numerous previously unmapped outcrop areas, many with similar host assemblages alteration styles and quartz carbonate veining/alteration as observed at the Pahtavaara deposit.

The company also started base of till drilling began in June on the Western Extension target located around 5km west of the Pahtavaara mine and will move drilling to further targets prioritised on evidence from the structural study, extensive geophysical data and the field geologists' mapping and sampling programmes.