Ora Banda Mining Limited (ASX: OBM) has announced a significant upgrade to the Mineral Resource for the Waihi Prospect, a key part of the company’s Davyhurst Gold Project located 120 km north west of Kalgoorlie.
Managing Director, David Quinlivan, reported that the Mineral Resource at the Waihi Project has increased by 190% from 0.9 Mt @ 2.4 g/t Au for 71,000 ounces of contained gold to 2.46 Mt @ 2.6 g/t for 206,000 ounces of contained gold.
The company’s total Mineral Resource has accordingly increased to 23.8 Mt @ 2.6 g/t Au for 1.99 million ounces of contained gold.
Mr Quinlivan said the Wahi open pit is located just 3.2 km from the Davyhurst processing plant.
He said the updated Wahi open pit Mineral Resource estimate is based on a gold price of A$2,400 per ounce, a lower block cut-off grade of 0.5 g/t Au and is physically constrained to the area within an optimum A$2,400 per ounce open pit shell that extends to a depth of 140 metres.
Mr Quinlivan, said the Waihi underground Mineral Resource estimate is limited to the area beneath the optimum A$2,400 per ounce open pit shell but with a higher block cut-off grade of 2.0 g/t Au to reflect the increased cost of underground mining
This very robust resource increase for Waihi is an excellent platform on which the development of viable mining operations at Waihi can confidently be planned,” Mr Quinlivan, said
“Our long-held view that Waihi would be a key component in start-up phase of the larger Davyhurst Gold Project has been significantly enhanced by this result.”
The updated Waihi Mineral Resource follows the successful completion of a 65 RC drill hole (6,313 metres) and 15 Diamond drill hole (3,656 metres) resource definition and extensional drilling program by Ora Banda.
Mr Quinlivan said that importantly, as a result of this focussed infill drilling programme, the higher confidence Indicated component has increased by 107,000 ounces (170%) to 169,000 ounces.
The Mineral Resource previously reported for Waihi was derived from an unconstrained Resource model whereas the new Resource estimate has been derived following the application of various constraints and modifying factors,
Mr Quinlivan said detailed mine design work aimed at defining the optimum economically viable mining envelope for an open pit at Waihi has commenced.
Additional work streams including subjecting Waihi ore to a range of metallurgical tests, geotechnical studies to ascertain optimum open pit wall angles and environmental studies required for the approval process have also now commenced.
