Middle Island Resources Limited (ASX: MDI) has commenced a significantly expanded Phase 2 drilling campaign at the Sandstone gold project in the central goldfields of Western Australia.
The Phase 2 campaign will comprise an initial 222 holes (13,846m) of reverse circulation (RC) resource definition drilling and circa 10 holes (1,000m) of HQ3 diamond drilling.
Managing Director, Rick Yeates, said the RC drilling component has been significantly expanded from ~3,000m due to the success of the Phase 1 campaign, which identified five new satellite gold deposits, rather than the one new deposit on which the original programme and budget was predicated.
The RC component of the revised Phase 2 drilling campaign will employ two drill rigs to infill and extend the new satellite deposits (McClaren, McIntyre, Ridge, Old Town Well and Plum Pudding) on a nominal 20m x 20m pattern.
A further 12 holes (720m) are also planned at Shillington, primarily to confirm a possible southern extension to the deposit identified in the Phase 1 program.
This drilling will generate notional Indicated Mineral Resources for inclusion in the updated feasibility study scheduled for completion in Q3 CY 2020.
Diamond drilling will comprise ~1,000m of HQ3 oxide coring from surface (notionally two holes per satellite deposit) to generate material for bulk density determination, and metallurgical and geotechnical testwork, permitting the new deposits to be considered as Ore Reserves in the feasibility study update.
Middle Island Managing Director, Mr Rick Yeates:
The Phase 2 programme comprises an initial 13,800m of resource definition RC drilling to infill and extend the five new satellite deposits identified during Phase 1 work, along with confirmation of a possible southern extension to the Shillington deposit,” Mr Yeates said.
“The resource definition component of the programme will be followed by an exploration element to provide initial assessment of two further significant targets identified by the Phase 1 drilling, at Shillington Gap and Eureka. Planning for this component is still on-going and will be partly predicated on assessment of the imminent high resolution airborne magnetic and radiometric survey results.”
Middle Island is also undertaking preliminary resource estimates and pit optimisations as a priority on all five new satellite deposits to assist in refining planned Phase 2 resource definition RC and diamond drilling.
Final resource estimates will then be prepared for the Two Mile Hill, Wirraminna and Shillington deposits, where resource definition drilling has largely been completed, prior to final pit optimisation studies for the feasibility update. Shillington will be the last of the three deposits to be re-estimated, following limited Phase 2 RC drilling on the recently identified southern extension.
Final resource estimates and pit optimisations will then be progressively undertaken on the new satellite deposits as the Phase 2 drilling results are received and compiled, prior to inclusion in the feasibility study.
