Western Australian gold explorers Allied Gold and Goldstar Resources latest drilling results have provided further encouragement for the discovery of additional gold resources at their respective projects.
Welshpool-headquartered Allied Gold's most recent drilling results at its Simberi Island gold project in Papua New Guinea indicate the possibility of significant additional oxide gold resources, outside of the main Sorowar gold deposit, at the project.
Drilling was carried out to the east and west of the main Sorowar pit, which will commence as an open-cut mining operation in the first half of next year.
Included in the latest results are promising intersections at the Pigiput deposit, just 1.5 kilometres to the south of Sorowar, 60 kilometres north of Lihir Island.
Based on a gold price of US$550 per ounce and an exchange rate of A$1 = US$0.77, the Simberi mine's economic profile is:
- Life of mine - 7.8 years
- Average mining rate - 2.0 mtpa at 1.35 g/t gold (85,000 oz)
- Annual gold production - 75,000 oz
- Estimated operating cash cost - US$256 per oz
- Estimated capital cost - US$43.7 million
Further resource drilling is scheduled from April at Sorowar, and other oxide gold deposits on Simberi and the nearby Tatau Islands.
Allied Gold's total resources at Simberi Island currently comprise 46.8 million tonnes at 1.51 g/t gold for 2.27 million ounces including at Sorowar, the largest pit scheduled for mining, current defined reserves and resources within the designed pit of 13.5 million tonnes at 1.22 g/t gold for 530,000 ounces.
Goldstar Resources NL today announced that results from its recent surface drilling program at its Walhalla Gold Project in Victoria have confirmed a further expansion of the Eureka Dyke Bulge both at depth and along strike.
The latest results from the Eureka Prospect at the project continue to support the repetition of the high grade quartz reef sequence within the Eureka Dyke bulge system.
An additional high grade quartz reef, the eighth identified at Eureka to date, was intersected in the last hole of the drilling program.
The results are typical of that experienced in the nuggetty style of mineralisation typical of the Walhalla field.
The continued growth of the Eureka Dyke Bulge mineralised zone further strengthens the Company's objective of targeting the early commencement of gold production from the Walhalla goldfield.
