Having wrapped up drilling at its Burbanks, Wilsons and Boorara gold projects near Kalgoorlie, Maritana Minerals has now turned its attention to its Coote and Crake prospects for the final push in the company’s ambitious 60,000m resource drilling blitz across its core WA gold assets.
As the massive undertaking enters the final straight, the campaign has been squarely aimed at converting precious resources into mine-ready reserves for its central Black Swan processing hub (BSPH), which is slated for restart in the second half of next year.
The gold junior has now completed more than 17,000m of reverse circulation (RC) drilling at Boorara - the first planned ore source for Black Swan - alongside 4000m of aircore at Wilson's and a raft of extension drilling at Burbanks, as it turns the drill bits towards the Coote and Crake deposits.
The work forms part of a broader program designed to update ore reserves and life-of-mine plans for the impending processing hub.
Maritana says it is also keeping one eye firmly on growth, with its 4000-metre maiden aircore program at its Wilsons prospect - just 400m from the Black Swan - targeting a 2.5-kilometre by 1.5-kilometre gold-in-soil anomaly that has historically only been explored for nickel.
The company’s latest work at Coote and Crake, which sit 10km northwest of Kalgoorlie-Boulder, will involve resource conversion and extensional drilling. The two deposits are just 500m apart and are two of the four initial ore sources planned for the BSPH. Notably, the gold mineralisation at Coote and Crake is hosted in the same geological setting as the 390,000-ounce Janet Ivy open pit just 1500m to the south, where more than 100,000 ounces of gold have been produced.
At the Boorara project, which will provide the first ore feed for the BSPH, a 119-hole RC drilling program for more than 17,000m was completed.
Meanwhile, phase two extensional drilling has now wrapped up at the historically high-grade Burbanks project, which produced 324,479 ounces of gold at a stunning average grade of 22.7 grams per tonne (g/t), with an updated mineral resource estimate for Burbanks expected later this quarter.
First assays from the massive campaign are expected in October and are likely to provide a steady stream of exploration and upgrade results to the company's growing development story.
Maritana Minerals managing director and chief executive officer Grant Haywood said: "With rigs now turning at Coote and Crake, and drilling programs completed at Boorara, Burbanks and Wilsons, Maritana has one of the most active drill programs in the district. The majority of these programs will lift confidence in the ounces closest to the Black Swan Processing Hub so they can be converted into Reserves and scheduled into the mine plan."
Maritana’s strategy is to refurbish the Black Swan plant into a 2.5-million-tonne-per-annum central processing hub, drawing ore from a string of its satellite deposits dotted largely within a 100km radius of Kalgoorlie, as it chases its ambition of becoming a 100,000-ounce-per-annum mid-tier gold producer.
With four rigs turning soon at Coote and Crate, and Boorara targeted for a mid-2027 restart, Maritana is steadily transitioning from explorer to standalone producer. As Black Swan heats up, the path to first gold next year is becoming increasingly clear.
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By Andrew Todd
