Santana Minerals’ (ASX:SMI) infill drilling completed at its Rise & Shine (RAS) discovery has so far delivered an upgrade to the Indicated Resource category of 464% to the upper (open-pittable) portion of the gold deposit located within the 100% owned Bendigo-Ophir Project in New Zealand.
All of the 1.293Moz indicated gold resources fell within a pit optimisation shell to validate its Reasonable Prospect for Eventual Economic Extraction (RPEEE).
The infill drilling completed over the past 12 months has resulted in a slightly varied geological interpretation and enabled a firmer interpretation of ore shapes at a slightly lower grade compared to the February 2023 Mineral Resource Estimate (MRE).
“This is a fantastic result for the company and sets a solid foundation for the commencement of mine development studies. Our resource model is slightly varied but is now tighter and has a clear, consistent and predictable higher-grade core that can be the foundation of initial mining studies,” CEO Damian Spring said.
“The RAS ore system remains open down plunge and we continue our infill drilling aimed at converting more of our Inferred resource to Indicated category which would likely suit underground mining methodologies.
“We now have a critical mass to enable initial mine development studies to commence and that is the immediate focus of our team and the company.”
To date, some 74,049 metres of diamond drilling has been completed at RAS, which includes 47,952 metres of diamond drilling in the current infill programme.
Infill drilling is continuing on the deeper/down plunge part of the system and another 4,009 metres has been drilled since the database was closed off for the February 2024 MRE. The drilling continues at a reduced rate on deeper parts of the RAS ore system as the company shifts its focus on the economic extraction of the upper Indicated resource.
A number of other detailed studies aligned with the upcoming PFS and subsequent mine approvals are advancing in parallel. These include the Tailings Storage, Waste Rock Characterisation, Slope Stability and Site Geotechnical analysis, Hydrology, Water, Ecological, Aquatic Ecology, Climate and Economic Output studies.
