Maritana Minerals has unleashed a volley of high-grade gold hits from its Boorara project just east of Kalgoorlie, with final drill results confirming both the grade and scale continue for what is set to become a cornerstone asset of its new regional processing hub.
The best new results from a 119-hole reverse-circulation (RC) program include a stunning 20-metre hit grading 7.77 grams per tonne (g/t) gold from 100m, featuring a bonanza two-metre section going 54.04g/t gold.
Another hole designed to test extensions at depth hit a significant 36-metre section at 3.53g/t gold from 142m, including a one-metre slice at a stellar 62.44g/t gold, confirming the high grades likely continue at depth.
Maritana has earmarked Boorara as a main feed source for its rapidly developing Black Swan processing hub northeast of Kalgoorlie. The hub is central to the company's ambition to become a 100,000-ounce-per-annum gold producer by breathing new life into the old Black Swan processing plant and trucking ore from a portfolio of nearby satellite deposits.
The latest results are from the final 52 holes of the program at Boorara and form part of a massive 60,000-metre resource conversion campaign being waged by Maritana across its impressive 2.15-million-ounce gold portfolio. The program was designed to convert inferred resources into the higher-confidence indicated category, a critical step in de-risking mine planning and growing the company’s ore reserves.
Other significant infill results from Boorara include 19m at 1.63g/t gold from 108m and 19 m at 1.32g/t gold from just 66m.
Extensional drilling has also delivered the goods, confirming mineralisation extends well below the current pit design and remains open at depth. The 36-metre hit grading 3.53g/t gold was drilled down-plunge of the planned pit four, hinting at the potential for future resource growth at the flagship deposit.
With a war chest of $229 million in cash and no debt as of June, Maritana appears fully funded to execute its strategy.
Maritana Minerals managing director and chief executive officer Grant Haywood said: "These final results continue to build confidence in Boorara, with the infill drilling better defining the main contact lodes and indicating that gold mineralisation is wider in places than previously understood."
Maritana has been one of the most active drillers in the Kalgoorlie and Coolgardie districts in recent years, systematically working to upgrade its substantial resource base, which was recently boosted by 62 per cent to 2.15 million ounces. Given the quality of these new results, that milestone is looking increasingly likely to tumble, with the assays now feeding into an updated mineral resource estimate due in the March quarter next year.
The expanded resource will then underpin further pit optimisation work and likely follow-up drilling beneath pit four, to chase the extending high-grade resource.
With a mid-2027 mining restart at Boorara now firmly in the company’s sights, the prospect of chasing more bonanza-grade gold at depth could add further muscle to its plans to become the Goldfields’ next 100,000-ounce-a-year producer.
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