The share price of Meeka Metals soared to a record high of 10.2 cents today on the biggest turnover in more than two months after unveiling a set of stunning gold hits from its drilling at St Anne’s, part of the company’s flagship Murchison gold project in Western Australia.
The results included a jaw-dropping 10m section grading 52.79 grams per tonne (g/t) gold within a broader 23m intercept running at 26.73g/t.
While it’s fairly common for gold exploration drilling to hit the odd nugget which can have the effect of positively skewing the numbers for 0.5 or 1m intercepts, a 10-metre intercept running at nearly two ounces per tonne is another ball game altogether.
In short, the latest drilling has delivered results which appear nothing short of exceptional highlighted by hits of 14m at 7.50g/t gold from 59m including a 9m slice running 10.79g/t gold and 7m grading 7.84g/t gold from 29m, peaking at 1m at 48.80g/t gold.
The company says the high-grade intersections have now redefined the potential of St Anne’s North and firmly support its plans to expand the stage 1 open pit design.
Including the earlier results released, 49 out of 145 completed drill holes have now been reported with a further 96 holes still in the laboratory awaiting assays. Notably, almost half the pending results include holes drilled directly to the east of the stage 1 open pit design at St Anne’s North.
Given the quality of these latest hits any follow up results even close to the numbers reported today would certainly lend further weight to the prospect of expanding the pit design to the east as well as to the north.
Meeka Metals managing director Tim Davidson said: “This is some of the highest grades we have seen from St Anne’s and will result in the Stage 1 open pit being expanded to the north where hole 24SAGC002 intersected a 10m zone of bonanza gold grading nearly two ounces per tonne. Further assays are expected in January 2025 from the remaining 96 holes drilled during the December 2024 quarter. Drilling remains ongoing.”
Meeka is gearing up for what looks to be a transformative 2025. The company is already in the process of moving its mining fleet to site while it busies itself with the completion of a 20km haul road and commissions the new infrastructure ready for mining, due to start at St Anne’s and Turnberry in March.
Upgrades to the processing plant are already in train and should be ready for first pour by late June with the company aiming to produce an average of 65,000 ounces annually across its first seven years.
Meeka's Murchison project, hosting an impressive 1.2-million-ounce gold resource averaging 3g/t, is set to shine even brighter on the back of its recently updated 10-year production plan. According to the latest definitive feasibility study, the project boasts a net present value of $616 million – using an 8 per cent discount rate - and promises a remarkable payback period of just seven months.
With a mine life pre-tax free cash flow forecast at $1 billion and a rampant gold price, currently trading at US$2650 (A$4249) per ounce, both the fundamentals and the financials of Meeka’s Murchison project look first class.
And, if the company can process a higher proportion of low-cost ounces up front, the economics of the project should brighten even further.
With the latest stunning results in the bag and the strong possibility of more to come, Meeka’s option to expand its open pit design at St Anne’s appears more likely by the day.
Success in exploration is seldom delivered in a straight line but for Meeka, St Anne’s is certainly starting to look like a very rare breed indeed.
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By James Pearson
