Blackam Resources Limited (ASX: BLK) has further extended the high-grade free-milling underground Golden Age orebody at its Wiluna Project in Western Australia.
Executive Chairman, Milan Jerkovic, said the current drill programme at Golden is aimed at sustaining or increasing production and improve transitional cashflow over the next 12-18 months, ahead of Stage 1 sulphides production.
Golden Age is a high-grade narrow-vein quartz reef deposit that provides supplementary high-grade mill feed along with baseload feed from the company’s open pit mines.
The latest results have confirmed both the up-dip continuity of the Golden Age reef and strong gold mineralisation within the footwall zone. The results also demonstrate the continuity of high-grade mineralisation above the upper-most mine levels, with better intercepts including:
- 2.7m @ 4.02g/t from 30.7m incl. 0.3m 13.4g/t and 0.7m @ 6.71g/t; 6.6m @ 8.24g/t from 46.6m incl. 0.6m @ 82.2g/t; 10.6m @ 3.45g/t from 62.1m incl. 5.2m @ 5.45g/t; and 3.8m @ 8.14g/t from 88.1m 7.1m @ 6.31g/t from 65.7m.
Blackham is also currently mining Golden Age Lower mineralisation on the 800 level, with current drilling of the 775 level aimed at extending the mine further at depth.
Pre-Blackham drilling intercepts between the 600 and 700 levels, including 12.9m @ 6.88g/t and 7.4m @ 7.56g/t, show that high-grade Golden Age reef mineralisation remains open for a considerable distance below the current workings. This zone is the target of further drilling that commenced in late March with the arrival of a second rig to drill between the 775 and 650 levels, with results expected over the coming weeks.
Blackham recently raised $52 million in equity to advance Stage 1 sulphides production Drilling has commenced with the objective to increase Stage 1 sulphide reserves, and will accelerate with a second RC rig and a surface diamond rig engaged to mobilise to site during April.
The sulphide drilling programme is designed to:
- Expand and upgrade inferred and indicated resource areas
- Discover new high-grade shoots in modelled structural locations
Blackham’s Stage 1 sulphide expansion project aims to see underground production ramp up through FY 2021 to 100-120,000oz per annum over an initial 6-year underground mine plan.
Mr Jerkovic said Wiluna is endowed with a large underground sulphide resource that currently stands at 18.5Mt @ 4.82 g/t for 2.9Moz, including 1.7Moz (58%) in the inferred category, which presents the company with substantial reserve conversion and life-of-mine extension opportunities.
“These excellent results further demonstrate the continuity of high-grade Golden Age mineralisation, both above the upper-most mine levels and at depth,” he said.
“Pleasingly, the lower extensions build on pre-Blackman drilling showing high grade mineralisation remains open for a considerable distance below the current mining level.
“This is particularly supportive of an extension to mine life at Golden Age and thus, sustained production of high grade, free milling ore.
“Together the results progress our strategy of ensuring solid transitional cashflow as we pursue to our staged Sulphide Expansion Plan which aims to see underground production ramp up to 100,000-120,000 ounces per annum by FY 2021.”
