More shallow high-grade drill hits continue to highlight the resource extension potential at emerging WA gold developer, Bardoc Gold’s 1.7-million-ounce Aphrodite gold deposit north of Kalgoorlie that cornerstones the 3.07m ounce Bardoc project the company is moving toward a 2022 production start.
Bardoc Gold recently filed its definitive feasibility study for the Bardoc mine proposal, outlining a 130,000-140,000 ounces oz per annum producer at all-in sustaining costs around $1,188 per ounce over at least eight years.
The company is now busy locking down financing for what is one of the few new 100,000 ounces per annum plus gold mines scheduled to come on line in Australia over the next two years.
Management says the multi-lode Aphrodite deposit about 20km north of its mainstay Excelsior/Zoroastrian deposits and proposed processing facility site, has seen only minimal exploration beyond known resource zones and “offers significant upside for the project”.
Drilling targeting free-milling shallow supergene mineralisation in the Sigma lode at Aphrodite has produced more enticing hits to add to those reported by Bardoc Gold late last year.
New intercepts include 5m grading 17.7 grams per tonne gold from 109 metres depth, 15m of 1.49 g/t from 97m and 7.7m of 2.98 g/t from 133.3m.
They complement hits such as 21m of 3.94 g/t from 147m, 7m at 2.77 g/t from 177m and 8m of 2.92 g/t from 177m reported last November.
Bardoc Gold says the Sigma Lode supergene mineralisation not in its DFS mining plan will likely have a positive impact on the Bardoc resource model and importantly could add free-milling plant feed.
The company has an open pit mining reserve of 2.9 million tonnes grading 1.8 g/t for 168,000 ounces at Alpha, among a series of steeply-dipping shear zones hosting known gold mineralisation at Aphrodite, where it also has the Phi, Omega, Epsilon, Sigma and Gamma lodes.
Gamma, outside the current project resource model and about 450m east of the Alpha pit reserve, has also produced strong new drill hits of 9m grading 2.36 g/t from 70m depth and 16m at 1.04 g/t from 76m. Management says the new intersections highlight the potential for a new mineralised zone outside of the Aphrodite 1.7-million-ounce resource.
Follow-up work on Gamma will include geological interpretation for resource modelling and the targeting of potential deeper underlying high-grade shear-hosted mineralisation.
Bardoc Gold Chief Executive Officer, Robert Ryan said: “The latest results point to the immense potential for further reserve and resource growth outside of our current mine plan, importantly with much of the upside coming from recently delineated shallow supergene mineralisation which is expected to contribute to our free-milling processing plan.”
“Early mining studies have already revealed open pit potential at Sigma, with latest results showing that there is also significant underground potential at the deposit.”
Bardoc has a 250 square kilometre landholding at its namesake project and the operational depth in its management team to be already looking past the top-25 Australian gold mines outlined in its 2021 DFS.
The latest pre-production drill results are a reminder of what lies just beyond its planned $177 million start-up operation, just 40km from downtown Kalgoorlie.
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By Matt Birney
