As Calidus Resources rolls on towards the end of a successful field season at its Warrawoona gold project in WA, the Perth based ASX-listed company has tabled a suite of exciting assays that may see its 1.25 million ounce resource boosted and its existing pre-feasibility study numbers updated.
Recent drilling up to 200 metres below the base of the proposed open-cut mine has provided an early indication that Calidus might also be able to head underground when the pit is mined out.
Latest numbers include 1 metre grading 55.2 grams per tonne gold and 1.11m at an ounce to the tonne gold.
The project’s Klondyke deposit in the East Pilbara of WA has been drilled from top to tail, defining gold mineralisation to a depth of about 280 metres and importantly, it is still open in all directions.
The drilling has now defined a number of high-grade shoots and once the company has evaluated the next phase of drilling targets, these shoots will likely attract significant exploration attention.
A series of metallurgical drill holes also targeted weathered rocks within the proposed open pit and returned good results with 11.78m grading 4.11g/t from 28.95m and 9.08m grading 5.11g/t gold from 24.1m downhole.
At Klondyke West, wide-spaced drilling up to 3.5 kilometres west of the current resource confirmed that the Klondyke shear is still mineralised with numbers like 4m grading 3.97g/t gold from 40 metres downhole, providing plenty of follow up work for the new year.
Calidus Managing Director Dave Reeves said: “We plan to fly a high-resolution aeromagnetic and radiometric survey in the New Year to assist with follow up targeting of this area [Klondyke West]”
“The metallurgical drilling targeted oxide and transitional zones for variability testing because we believe there may be upside in processing throughput in this material. This test work will commence in Q1 of CY2020 and provide a base for final feasibility designs as we advance our goal of becoming a 100kozpa Australian gold producer.”
“The PFS delivered in July 2019 demonstrates that Warrawoona will be a robust project producing ~100,000ozpa with a Life-of-Mine All-in Sustaining Cost of ~A$1,159/oz.”
The company recently defined a maiden ore reserve of 8.9 million tonnes grading 1.5g/t gold for a smidgen under 420,000 ounces of gold at the proposed Klondyke open pit and underground mining operation.
The project is host to a total mineral resource of 1,248,000 ounces at 1.83g/t gold over a remarkable 5km of strike.
Calidus has certainly stayed the course this year, systematically developing Warrawoona with textbook precision.
Just where this resource will end up is difficult to gauge and if Calidus can get an underground operation to fly, it may well have an uber long mine life project on its hands that should get into cash flow quickly given its close proximity to surface at the other extent of the known mineralisation.
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By Matt Birney
