Ora Banda Mining has cracked a major milestone, extracting its first development ore just four months after opening a mine portal at the Sand King underground gold mine, which is part of the company’s Davyhurst project in Western Australia’s Goldfields region.
The company says the landmark achievement sets the stage for full-scale ore production, expected to begin in the March quarter next year, with steady-state output of about 60,000 ounces of gold per annum anticipated by mid-year.
The Sand King underground mine is a key piece of the company’s ambitious Drive to 150 plan, which aims to produce about 150,000 ounces of gold annually from the Davyhurst project by mid-2026.
Development of the mine has made remarkable progress, with 835 development metres and 427 decline metres already completed within 14 months of Ora Banda plunging its first drill hole into the deposit to target underground mineralisation.
The company has also completed 5477m of a planned 45,400-metre grade control program of underground diamond drilling aimed at identifying multiple, high-grade lodes with bulk potential.
Some of the more substantial hits from the program so far include 6m grading 9.5 grams per tonne (g/t) gold, including a 3.5m section running at 13.7g/t gold, 1.3m at 17.6g/t gold and peaking at 21.9g/t gold and 11.3m grading 4.1g/t gold with a 0.5m slice running at 10.7g/t gold.
Ora Banda has also had significant success at its Sand King North prospect, nailing some top-shelf results after running a small six-hole drill exploration program to test for extension mineralisation north of the current pit, particularly close to surface.
Standout hits at the prospect included 8m grading 5.4g/t gold, including a 2.7m section at 13.6g/t gold and an exceptional 0.5m interval running at 48g/t gold within a broader 2.4m span grading 11.5 g/t gold.
It is still early days for Ora Banda in terms of the open pit extension possibilities, however, the results are highly encouraging, particularly given so many of the high-grade intersections are at or near surface.
There is also considerable potential to improve and extend the mineralisation, management says.
Ora Banda Mining managing director Luke Creagh said: “The grade control and surface drilling has confirmed, enhanced and extended known mineralisation and we consider this to be at the early stages of unlocking the full potential of the Sand King mineralised system. The combination of Riverina and Sand King high-grade ore delivers a step change to our production profile and cashflows, with a production outlook of 140,000 ounces to 160,000 ounces in FY2026.”
Sand King’s underground development requires a capital investment of $39 million and a maximum cash drawdown of $32m, which will be fully funded by cashflows from the company’s Riverina underground operations and existing cash reserves. By the end of the September quarter, Ora Banda had $48.7m in the kitty.
The mine has been on a remarkable growth journey since starting with a resource of 110,000 ounces at the end of last year. An extensive drilling program this year saw it jump 176 per cent to 3.4 million tonnes at 2.8g/t for a total of 304,000 gold ounces.
The current resource remains open in all directions and has been explored only to a depth of about 300m below the surface – offering the company further hope Sand King still has substantial potential for further discoveries and development.
Ora Banda has seen a stunning business turnaround in the past two years. Creagh has jumped into the managing director’s chair and the company has gone from a flat-lining producer of 12,000 ounces per quarter, grading 1.5g/t, to pouring more than 24,000 ounces per quarter at a grade of 3.4g/t. Sand King’s resource also jumped by 200 per cent – and is still growing.
The company is also confident of further resource growth at its other major underground mine, Riverina, which is 50km northwest of Sand King. Two additional diamond rigs recently arrived at Riverina to explore the deposit’s southern extension and look for further depth extensions as part of a $25m project-wide annual exploration budget.
It seems nothing is holding Ora Banda back at the moment.
The rampant gold price, currently trading $4192 and $80 dollars shy of its all time high, is an absolute boon for the company. The company also has an aggressive growth trajectory to its production profile - set to rise by as much as 50 per cent to 150,000 ounces of gold by mid-2026. And to top things off, the resource base is now showing huge potential for further discovery.
Ora Banda may well have hit a trifecta worthy of giving any punter a massive rush of blood to the head.
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By James Pearson
