Ora Banda Mining has added further weight to its Waihi growth story after delivering a fresh batch of thick, high-grade gold intercepts.
The hits have expanded the mineralisation envelope and reinforced the project’s credentials as a potential third underground mining operation for the company in Western Australia’s northern Goldfields.
Initial drilling late last year confirmed the presence of a new lode in the hanging wall of Golden Pole and ongoing follow-up work has continued to push mineralisation well beyond historical boundaries. The latest results have backed up the earlier findings, confirming strong grade continuity and depth extensions beneath old workings, just three kilometres from the company’s Davyhurst processing plant.
Targeted follow-up drilling at Golden Pole returned standout results, including 7 metres at 27.4 grams per tonne (g/t) gold, featuring a bonanza-grade 2m interval at 87.5g/t.
Other eye-catching hits piled on the momentum, with bonanza-grade intercepts of 2.2 metres at a stunning 56.3g/t gold, 2.2 metres at 36.9g/t, plus thicker zones of 5 metres at 13.2g/t and 3.2 metres at 13.9g/t– all reinforcing just how robust and consistent the Golden Pole mineralisation is shaping up to be.
Ora Banda managing director Luke Creagh said: “These outstanding results continue to support the case for Waihi to be Ora Banda's third underground mine, with drilling right across the Waihi package returning high-grades, excellent widths and the potential for further extensions of the mineralised system, all within three kilometres of the Davyhurst Processing plant.”
Management said the identification of a brand-new lode to the west of Golden Pole has highlighted yet another compelling exploration opportunity within the Waihi package, reinforcing the project's district-scale potential.
Golden Pole forms part of the broader Waihi project, which is being strongly touted as a potential third underground mining centre alongside Ora Banda’s existing operations. The company says a mineral resource estimate update is slated for early in the June quarter and will, for the first time, include Golden Pole.
Ora Banda originally launched a 45-hole drilling campaign at Waihi in the middle of last year, targeting depth extensions and new discoveries. Continued success, especially at Golden Pole, prompted the company to expand the program to 97 drill holes, with a further 20 drill holes now being drilled specifically to infill and extend the Golden Pole lode.
The Waihi area sits within the Northern Goldfields Superterrane of the Yilgarn Craton, one of the world’s most mineral-endowed geological provinces. Mineralisation is hosted in quartz veins and high-grade shoots within volcanic rocks associated with ductile shear zones - a setting typical of many long-life gold camps in the region.
Gold was first discovered in the district in 1899, leading to the development of several mines and the former township of Davyhurst, which now hosts Ora Banda’s processing hub. The historic Waihi, Homeward Bound and Golden Pole deposits collectively produced about 133,000 ounces of gold.
Golden Pole was a prolific high-grade producer, delivering approximately 77,000 ounces of gold at a whopping average grade of 29.6 g/t between 1900 and 1939. Despite that production history, the system was only lightly drill tested by previous operators, leaving significant scope for modern exploration techniques to unlock additional ounces.
Beyond Golden Pole, drilling across the wider Waihi project continues to return encouraging results, including 2m at 24.3 g/t from Waihi East and 3.9m at 6.8 g/t from depth at the company’s Homeward Bound prospect.
Notably, Ora Banda has also intersected what appears to be a new lode west of Golden Pole, returning 1.1m at 3.4 g/t.
Follow-up drilling to test down-plunge extensions beneath the historic Golden Pole workings is scheduled to begin this month, while assays are still pending from parts of the broader Waihi program.
With high-grade results continuing to stack up and a resource update on the horizon, Waihi is shaping as a key growth lever for Ora Banda as it looks to maximise the value of its existing processing infrastructure and underground mining expertise.
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