Ora Banda Mining has again struck gold, with a stellar set of high-grade intercepts at its latest discovery, Little Gem, south of its Riverina gold camp, outside Kalgoorlie.
The company is gushing over its latest discovery results, stating the drilling has exhibited thick, rich lodes of gold and sparked an immediate 16-hole follow-up campaign.
The drill program will now pepper a 4.7-kilometre gold trend emerging south of Ora Banda’s flagship Riverina mine, stretching all the way from its British Lion deposit south through Little Gem to its 32,000-ounce Sunraysia deposit.
The star of the drilling program is a deep intersection at Little Gem, which slammed into two monster lodes, delivering a hefty 22.7 metres at 5 grams per tonne (g/t) gold from 481m - including a sizzling 6.2m at 10.8 g/t. A further 10.9m at 6.4 g/t was delivered 40m further downhole.
The intercepts were part of a five-hole confirmation program after a discovery at Little Gem last month. The company says its results prove the prospect’s carbonate-hosted gold system is significant, potentially stretching more than 1.6km in strike and plunging to depths untested outside the nearby Riverina underground mine.
A hit some 250m up-dip tagged the same lodes with solid results such as 4m at 4.1 g/t, hinting at continuity closer to surface.
Ora Banda’s geologists have assays from three further holes due by late April but are already buzzing about a game-changing find that might tie Little Gem’s high-grade carbonate units to similar rich zones at Sunraysia, 4km south, where historical hits such as 2m at 28.6 g/t are set to be further tested.
Ora Banda Mining managing director Luke Creagh said: “These latest discovery intercepts at Little Gem are landmark because they open our eyes to a new 4.7km long target zone that runs all the way from Sunraysia to British Lion. To put this into context, this is more than double the current strike length of the known Riverina orebody. Consequently, we've committed to a priority 16-hole starter drill program which will test the carbonate horizons along the 4.7km strike and down to a depth of 400m. We are very much looking forward to seeing what this program delivers."
As Creagh suggested, the company will waste no time rolling out a 7300m diamond drilling blitz over the coming 10 weeks, some 25km north of Ora Banda’s 1.2-million-tonne per annum Davyhurst mill, which is charging toward its 150,000-ounce annual gold production target.
The company says it is on target to achieve its production goals, fueled by record gold prices hovering about $4650 per ounce and a fortified war chest exceeding $100 million, thanks to a recent $50m credit facility.
Ora Banda’s Riverina and Sand King underground mines are already pumping out high-grade ore, but Little Gem’s promising grades could turbocharge the pipeline of future mining opportunities the company has available, potentially dwarfing nearby Sunraysia’s modest 32,000-ounce resource.
This discovery lands hot on the heels of Ora Banda’s record half year revenues of $186.4m and a $57.8m cash pile - proving its high-grade underground strategy is a money-spinner.
The company has $41m earmarked for exploration this year, including an additional $16m from a $45m expenditure boost announced last month, giving it the firepower to thoroughly pepper Little Gem with the drill bit.
If the upcoming assays and drilling confirm this 4.7km gold trend, Ora Banda could be staring down a multi-year mine life extension, cementing its place among Australia’s elite gold producers.
With the Davyhurst mill humming at full blast and gold prices at all-time highs, the company may soon need to think about expanding its milling capacity to compensate for all the additional gold it keeps on discovering.
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By Andrew Todd
