Just months after listing on the ASX, Coolgardie Minerals has received its first revenue cheque of $1.68m from the sale of high grade oxide ore to Northern Star Resources. The ore was sourced from the high-grade supergene zone in the western area of the Geko pit near Bullabulling in WA.
The package consisted of 7980 tonnes of ore grading an impressive 5.94 grams per tonne for 1524 ounces of contained gold.
Notably, this is 35% higher than the Mining Reserve grade of 4.4g/t gold in this ore zone due to closer RC grade control drilling that has better defined the ore zone.
The company has also undertaken a collaborative mining review with contractor SMS Mining Services to reduce mining dilution within the ore zones.
Management said it is carrying out further grade control drilling to determine the extent of the remaining supergene zone in this area and to define the Stage 2 oxide ore zones for mining this month.
Northern Star has the option to purchase an additional 90,000 tonnes of oxide ore grading more than 2.75g/t gold before 31 March 2019.
Coolgardie is also planning to carry out exploration drilling to further extend the high grade supergene zone beyond the current pit design.
Drilling completed in November in this zone returned a top result of 5m @ 19.09g/t gold from 37m down-hole.
A recent 3D geological interpretation of the Geko resource outlined possible extensions to the deposit both down-dip and down-plunge of the known mineralisation.
Coolgardie holds just under 550 square kilometres of ground in the well-endowed Bullabulling district, centred about 50km west southwest of Kalgoorlie.
The nearby Bullabulling gold project holds about 3 million ounces grading over 1g/t gold.
Coolgardie Gold is part of a wave of listed resources companies that are looking to get into cash flows early via toll treating.
The concept is to avoid dilution and fund ongoing regional exploration out of cash flow rather than capital raises.
Grade is king in these scenarios and it appears that Coolgardie Gold’s modest investment in grade control drilling is starting to pay dividends now after some earlier difficulties.
By Matt Birney
