Australian gold explorer and developer Matsa Resources Limited (ASX: MAT) has unveiled a promising Mineral Resource Estimate (MRE) for the Bindah deposit located in the Fortitude hub of the company’s Lake Carey Gold Project in Western Australia.
Executive Chairman, Paul Poli, said the new Bindah MRE stands at 526,000t @ 2.4g/t Au for 40,000oz using a 1g/t cut-off, and follows recently announced new MRE’s for the Hill East and Gallant prospects. The Bindah model delivers additional Mineral Resources to the Lake Carey Gold Project which now totals 694,000oz gold.
Bindah makes a very tidy addition to our Fortitude hub, which now stands at over 400,000 oz at an attractive grade of 2g/t. Fortitude Stage 2, Bindah and Gallant are within 2km from each other and these will make a great mining hub,” Mr Poli said.
“The entire Lake Carey Project now stands at 694,000oz, including the Devon and Red October hubs. Exploration potential remains strong and we will be planning an exploration campaign for Bindah after we’ve assessed potential for a cutback.
“The area has a great history and we continue to identify opportunities that have had little recent exploration where previous operators were focussed on easy mining oxide ores due to lower gold prices. It is interesting folklore that Bindah was discovered by an old time prospector who shot at some ducks sitting on a low mound in the lake in his search for food. When he went to retrieve the ducks, he stumbled upon the Bindah outcrop. Bindah became a small mining settlement and was mined by WMC in the mid 1980’s for its high grade oxide ores. Since then, there has been minimal drilling completed and we believe significant potential remains to be discovered.
“At Fortitude Stage 2, we are also expecting a model upgrade using the grade control drilling and pit mapping completed just prior to the end of trial mining. A market update is planned for July.
“I’m very confident that with further drilling, we will continue to find and develop more resources at both Bindah and our Lake Carey Gold Project in general.”
Past production from Bindah is recorded as 26,897t @ 12.9g/t Au for 11,225oz up until 1922. Records suggest mining below the water table was a challenge that could not be overcome at the time. The mine was again worked for a short time in the mid 1930’s. The mine was later developed as an open pit by WMC in the mid 1980’s with production of 44,478t @ 3.13g/t Au for 4,490oz from oxide ores.
Subsequent to WMC activities the mine was held by Aurora and Midas (now Hammer Metals) where limited exploration drilling was completed. Matsa acquired the project in 2016 when it acquired the Fortitude project.
The Bindah Gold Mine is on the southern lake bed of the Lake Carey salt-pan approximately 100 kilometres south of Laverton passing the Sunrise Dam Gold Mine and sits less than 2km south of Matsa’s Fortitude Stage 2 planned mining operation.