Ora Banda driving hard towards 100,000 gold ounces a year

Ora Banda Mining has added significant momentum to its drive towards producing 100,000 ounces of gold annually by 2025 after intersecting the first ore from its Riverina underground’s Main Lode, some four weeks ahead of schedule.

The company expects to mine a lode grade of 10 grams per tonne gold at Riverina as part of its “Drive to 100” campaign. It says the ore location and width at the operation is in line with its block model, with expected face grades of about 4g/t gold.

First stoping at Riverina is expected in the March quarter, with steady-state production expected in the 2025 financial year of 600,000 tonnes per annum at a reserve grade of 4.3g/t for about 80,000 gold ounces per annum.

The decline and accesses at Riverina are designed so any lodes at the Murchison deposit can be mined off the existing infrastructure, which will support the low capital intensity of the mine.

Recent drilling at Riverina includes both an infill program from the surface and a grade-control campaign from underground, which has confirmed the high-grade Main Lode mineralisation in the upper levels. Significant infill results show a 4.7m intercept at 20.8g/t gold from Main Lode West, in addition to 3m going 23.7g/t gold and 1m reading 15.3g/t gold including a 0.6m hit grading 26.9g/t gold.

Grade control intercepts also threw up some solid figures with 1.5m at 35.2g/t and 0.7m going 50.9g/t gold at Main Lode East, with 1.5m grading 37.4g/t gold from Main Lode West.

In addition to its progress with its mining and drilling operations at Riverina, the company also completed key infrastructure projects for the operation, including the primary pump station and the main ventilation shaft. The vent fan installation and primary power station are scheduled to be wrapped up this month.

Ora Banda Mining managing director Luke Creagh said: “Achieving these big milestones is a testament to the outstanding efforts of the team, and further strengthens our business as we continue on the pathway to achieving over 100,000 ounces in FY25 and lowering unit costs. Intersecting first ore from Main Lode at Riverina ahead of schedule is an exciting moment, and as we ramp up production over the next 6 months, the high-grade ore from Riverina is a key driver of increasing our ounce profile and free cash flow.”

Just last month, a 4.5-day crusher shut down was completed safely and on budget, with the primary task of replacing the existing tertiary crusher. Since commissioning, the crushing circuit has been operating at nameplate capacity of 1.2 million tonnes per annum, with throughput rates consistently operating at more than 230 tonnes per hour on 100 per cent fresh-rock feed.

A key driver in lowering the company’s cost profile into the future has been the reduction of the Missouri open pit mining fleet by 33 per cent in line with a reduced strip ratio at the mine.

Also last month, Ora Banda kicked off a 33-hole exploration campaign at its Sand King underground prospect with two diamond rigs at the site. The program aims to follow up on the initial success at the target where a recent intercept revealed 12m at 9.8g/t gold.

The company recently recalculated the mineral resource at its Davyhurst operations and it now stands at 1.8 million ounces at 2.7g/t gold. Reserves, which are being rapidly expanded at the project with the drillbit, now sit at 160,000 ounces going 2.6g/t gold, which includes 145,000 ounces grading 3g/t gold. The calculations exclude low-grade ore and stockpiles, however the reserve grade was increased recently by 50 per cent to 3g/t gold.

The new resource estimation was calculated using a $2400 per ounce gold price and cut-off grades for the ore reserve were mainly based on a price of $1850 to ensure focus remains on conversion of higher-margin ounces. Today’s gold price in Australia is sitting at about $3046 an ounce.

The revised stats come following the change in focus to concentrate on higher-grade underground ore at Davyhurst. The company also revealed a $9.8 million exploration budget for next year to drill underground targets, Missouri and Sand King, with the aim of developing a second underground mine.

Ora Banda has not been shy about promoting its goal of producing 100,000 ounces of gold per annum by 2025 and with first ore at Riverina four weeks ahead of schedule, it certainly appears to be on track to reach the magic milestone.

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