Ora Banda Mining has drilled into thick, high-grade gold extensions at its Sand King underground mine in Western Australia, confirming a growing mineralised corridor north of the existing life-of-mine (LOM) plan, which is likely to add substantial new ounces at the high-grade mine.
Peak intercepts included bonanza grades up to 146 grams per tonne (g/t) from drilling that has stretched mineralisation well beyond current resource boundaries.
Standout intercepts included a 16.6-metre hit running at 8.3g/t gold and a 3m slice of 44.4g/t within a broader higher grade 6-metre section going at a whopping 23.3g/t. Another 6-metre intersection graded a hefty 16.9g/t gold.
The underground rig also returned bonanza gold hits of 6.7m at 39.3g/t, 7m at 10.7g/t and a 1.4m chunk at a whopping 50.8g/t.
The company says it has received 16 assays so far from the 43 holes completed from surface along the northern corridor - all outside the mine plan - in tandem with just 15 results from a further 57 holes from the underground rig, which were centred around the same area.
Ora Banda says a further seven surface holes were plunged into the southern corridor, where extensional drilling hit 6m at 23.3g/t, 4m at 6.5g/t and 2m at 10g/t gold.
An underground rig is now operating at the historical Palmerston pit to accelerate resource definition, with six of the seven planned holes done and assays pending.
The intercepts remain widely spaced and clearly highlight a path for significant resource expansion, with the northern extensions reachable from current underground stopes that have been filling the company’s Davyhurst mill.
Ora Banda says the outcomes have reinforced the scale of the Sand King system, which started with a modest reserve but is definitely proving larger than anyone anticipated.
Ora Banda Mining managing director Luke Creagh said: “The drilling at Sand King continues to validate our view that we are only in the early stages of unlocking what is potentially a large mineralised system. The widths and tenor of these near mine step-out holes are exciting as they indicate that Sand King has the potential to deliver increased production and mine life, with these northern extensions accessible from existing underground infrastructure."
On the production front, the company says it remains on track to hit its 150,000-ounce production guidance from its high-grade underground mines at Sand King and Riverina.
As its $73 million drilling blitz continues to deliver, the results are starting to spell out some chunky resource upgrades across a plethora of deposits in the coming new year.
The company has now also punched more than 80 holes for nearly 30,000m into its recent Little Gem discovery.
A ripper March hit at the discovery returned a 22.7m hit grading 5.0g/t gold, which lines up neatly with the plunges and shoot directions at the Riverina deposit, providing a simple exploration model for resource definition and no wasteful drill holes.
Several exploration corridors remain wide open in every direction, with phase four drilling set to kick off in January ahead of a maiden resource at Little Gem and upgrades across the board.
Across the broader Davyhurst gold project, a feasibility study is underway to scope out a potential doubling of Davyhurst’s capacity to 3 million tonnes a year.
With drilling success stacking up across Sand King, Riverina and Little Gem, Ora Banda is steadily building the ounces and optionality to underpin higher production, longer mine life and a potential step-change in scale at Davyhurst.
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By Andrew Todd
