Ora Banda Mining has unveiled a fresh haul of strong gold drilling results from its Riverina underground mine just outside of Kalgoorlie in Western Australia’s Goldfields region.
More than 100 holes have returned 10-gram metres of gold, including a 2.7m hit at a juicy 65.9 grams per tonne, while the company has also launched into its pivotal second underground operation at its Sand King deposit to the south. The underground portal has now been established and management says the mine decline is developing well.
Other notable results from Ora Banda’s latest infill program at Riverina include 4.4m running an impressive 22.1g/t gold, 7.3m grading 9.5g/t and 5m at 10.7g/t. The company believes the high-grade results that included 45 intercepts exceeding 20-gram metres of gold demonstrate the consistent nature of the Riverina ore lodes, which it expects to convert to predictable and profitable gold on its mission to deliver 150,000 ounces this financial year.
The results have bolstered the company’s belief in the Riverina system, which it now plans to probe with an additional second underground diamond rig as well as two surface drill rigs in the coming months. The next wave of drilling is expected to target extensions to the current Riverina gold system and test just how far the gold may go.
Management maintains that a key value driver for the company going forward is the establishment of its second high-grade underground operation at Sand King. The Davyhurst gold project, which includes the core Riverina and now Sand King undergrounds, features a 1.2 million-tonne per annum processing plant.
To maximise ounces from the processing plant – which is intended to run at near capacity tonnage – Ora Banda has defined the processing of its highest-grade underground lodes, including the recent discoveries that led to Sand King’s development.
Ora Banda Mining managing director Luke Creagh said: "As mining and drilling progresses at Riverina, our confidence is growing that we are only at the very early stages in unlocking what is presenting as a large and high-grade system.”
The Davyhurst mine sits 120km north-west of Kalgoorlie and now hosts a mineral resource estimate of 23.3 million tonnes grading 2.6g/t gold for 1.95 million ounces after a mineral resource upgrade earlier this month.
Following successful drilling at Sand King underground earlier this year, where a new high-grade lode was intersected for 16m grading 5.6g/t gold from 145m, the company approved – via a final investment decision (FID) by the board – for Sand King to become its second underground mine at Davyhurst. The mine is expected to cost about $39 million to develop, which Ora Banda says will be fully funded by operating cash flows from Riverina.
Management projects first ore to be processed by next quarter and for Sand King to reach steady-state production of some 60,000 ounces per annum by next year’s June quarter.
Ora Banda’s exploration efforts are planned to expand out from the main mining area at Riverina, south along strike to modelled main lodes at depth and then up and into the British Lion deposit 500m away. It considers the 2.5km corridor a “highly-fertile” search area that extends out 7.5km to the south.
Ora Banda ended last quarter with $26.8 million in cash after spending a substantial $20 million on growth opportunities. The company is seemingly on target for its “DRIVE to 150,000” gold ounces strategy for this financial year and also has plenty of resource expansion ambitions in the near-term.
It would seem Ora Banda’s promising prospects are not going unnoticed as it is quickly becoming a market darling in a strong gold market. It reached the impressive $1 billion valuation milestone this week and has nearly doubled its share price in just the past two months.
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By Andrew Todd
