Ora Banda Mining continues to deliver impressive results from phase-one drilling at its Riverina underground deposit near Kalgoorlie, with assays highlighting a 0.4m intercept at a massive 243 grams per tonne gold from 151.6m.
The 0.4m hit was contained within a 4.4m intersection grading 22.88g/t gold from 151.6m drilled at the company’s Murchison Lode, with a second hole at the target recording a 0.8m segment going 24.33g/t gold from 103.6m. Ora Banda’s Main Lode East target also returned solid assay results with a 3.8m hit at 20.3g/t gold from 215.8m, including 2.6m grading 28.54g/t gold from 216.4m.
Riverina’s current underground resource of more than 300,000 gold ounces remains open in all directions and a second-phase diamond drilling program has already kicked off to target extensions to the mineralisation envelope further south and at depth.
The company has also found early success at the nearby Reggie Lode that lies about 80m east of Murchison, with drilling revealing a 3.6m hit at 11g/t gold from only 17.4m. With no deep drilling to date at the target, Ora Banda says Reggie would be accessed off the same decline as the Main and Murchison lodes, demonstrating further potential of resource and production growth when it begins targeting the area with underground drilling next financial year.
Ora Banda Mining managing director Luke Creagh said: “With the commencement of the Riverina underground mine in May, our exploration team is now focussed on finding the next potential high-grade underground mine, with encouraging results from both Missouri and Federal Flag.”
Initial drilling below the company’s Missouri open pit returned positive results including a 2m hit grading a solid 7g/t gold from 470m. The intersection is about 200m down-dip of the planned open pit and shows the mineralised system continues at depth. Ora Banda says recent structural mapping of the lodes in the Missouri open pit has improved the understanding of grade chute controls for its WMC and Monarch ore lodes and demonstrates potential for higher-grade zones in structural corridors that extend down-plunge and which will be targeted with further drilling.
In April, the company also hit significant lithium results from an initial three-hole exploration campaign at its Federal Flag prospect, just 10km from its Davyhurst gold processing plant near Kalgoorlie. Assays confirmed the presence of lithium-caesium-tantalum pegmatites, along with potential lithium-bearing spodumene, with an 11.1m hit at 1.28 per cent lithium oxide from 54m.
The lithium program also highlighted additional high-grade gold at Federal Flag with a 1m hit at 98.8g/t gold from 94m, including 0.7m grading an impressive 140.69g/t gold from 94m.
Ora Banda says the presence of both lithium and high-grade gold shows the potential for two styles of mineralisation with complementary geometries for possible future open-pit mining. Management initially identified the lithium potential of Federal Flag after several pegmatites were intersected during resource drilling between historical open-pit gold mines at the site.
Lithium mineralisation was observed in drill spoil during the field-mapping exercise and pegmatites were also visible on the wall of a shallow open pit.
The ghosts of failures past at Ora Banda may still be wafting around the project, but the re-imagined and re-energised operation now seems poised to turn the doubters back into true believers.
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By Michael Philipps
