Wiluna Mining Increase Mineral Resource.
Wiluna Mining Corporation (ASX: WMX)has reported an increase to the Mineral Resource for the Wiluna Mining Centre, as part of the Company’s ongoing Sulphide Development plan.
Wiluna reported a 4.24Moz @ 4.89 g/t High Grafe Mineral Resource at the Wiluna Mining Centre, which is 11% more than reported in September, and 8.04Moz @ 1.63 g/t total mineral resource for the company.
Mining studies will be conducted to assess various mining options ranging from selective high-grade underground mining to bulk open pit and underground mining, or a combination of methods.
Wiluna Mining Executive Chair, Milan Jerkovic, commented: “Our ongoing $30 million drilling campaign has focused on high-grade areas with the potential to be mined at the start of our Sulphide Development schedule. Drilling has successfully added tonnes, improved the grade and improved the portion within Measured and Indicated confidence categories. We are delighted by these results because they build upon our strategy to enhance the very large, high-grade Wiluna Mineral Resource. Drilling has been supported by our team’s diligent efforts to extract maximum value from the large amount of existing historical drilling and mining data, including assaying of intervals of mineralisation from the historical core library which comprises over 800km of core. These efforts have contributed to the impressive growth in our Mineral Resource base.
Investigator’s Paris Silver Project Yields High Grades.
Investigator Resources (ASX: IVR) announced that the Paris Silver Project is the highest-grade undeveloped primary silver project in Australia. With a JORC 2012 resource of 9.3 Mt @ 139g/t Ag and 0.6% Pb for 42 Moz contained silver and 55 kt contained lead, Paris is a shallow, high-grade silver deposit amenable to open pit mining.
Investigator’s Managing Director, Andrew McIlwain said: “We believe these initial and preliminary results support our objective with this infill campaign of improving both the grade and confidence in the estimated resource.
“Drilling started on Line 8, at the northern edge of the “200m Zone” Indicated Resource block, and results from the 9 holes drilled in Lines 8 and 8.25, are expected to extend the Indicated Resource to the north. With some eyewatering grades seen in these early results, it bodes well for an increase in the average resource grade in this area”.
“These initial and incomplete results from only 9 holes, of a program total of 276, along with the geological logging of the drilling to date, augurs well for the success of this program. This has provided the confidence for the Board to approve an additional 5,500m of drilling to further improve the Paris resource.
“We will have assays coming through on a regular basis over the next few months and look forward to providing further updates on results”.
AusQuest Completes Initial Reconnaissance Results
AusQuest Limited (ASX: AQD) advised the market that the initial reconnaissance drilling program has been completed at the Gunanya Project in the Paterson Province of Western Australia under its Strategic Alliance Agreement with South32.
A total of seven Reverse Circulation drill holes (totalling 1,916m) spaced 200m apart across each anomaly were completed to test three magnetic targets in order to determine their potential to host gold and copper mineralisation similar to that found at Winu (by Rio Tinto) and Havieron (by Newcrest), located in the northern half of the Paterson Province.
Drill samples were collected at two metre intervals from each drill-hole and sent to Perth for analysis. Assay results are expected within three to four weeks, at which time an assessment of the drilling results will be undertaken.
AusQuest Managing Director Graeme Drew said the Company was pleased to have successfully completed initial reconnaissance drilling of the Gunanya targets even though not all the magnetic targets had been properly tested.
“We have seen signs of alteration and sulphide mineralisation, albeit pyrite, in both the basement lithologies and the overlying sediments,” he said. “but assays are required before any proper assessment of the drilling results can be made.”
“Final assay data should be available over the next 3-4 weeks and we look forward to reporting on the final results once we have had time to analyse the data” he continued.
Yandal Resource Estimate for Flushing Meadows.
Yandal Resources Ltd (ASX: YRL) released an updated Mineral Resource Estimate for the Flushing Meadows gold deposit, part of its 100% owned Ironstone Well gold project near Wiluna in the Yandal Greenstone Belt of Western Australia.
The prospect is located 60km south- west of the mining town of Wiluna in close proximity to a number of gold development projects and operating mines. The estimate contains a total 7.4Mt @ 1.13g/t Au for 268,000oz and utilised sample data from 420 RC drill holes and four diamond drill holes.
Yandal Resources’ Managing Director; Mr Lorry Hughes commented:
“Compared to the 2019 Mineral Resource Estimate the new estimate has a 60% increase in tonnage and a 12% reduction in grade for an overall 40% increase in total contained ounces. Importantly the new estimate has a 109% increase in material reporting to the higher confidence Indicated Resource category and the bulk of the mineralisation is located above 100m vertical depth.
The mineralisation remains open at depth and there are high priority exploration targets along strike and in adjacent positions that are being drilled currently. The Company plans to aggressively pursue Resource growth over the next two years with a large proportion of the exploration budget directed within a 10km radius of Flushing Meadows including the Oblique and Quarter Moon prospects where significant historic mineralisation occurs.
The Company has a dual strategy to prepare our most advanced prospects ready for mining whilst pursuing exploration targets capable of hosting multi-million ounce gold deposits known to occur in areas close to our projects”.
US Election and Gold.
It would seem the price of gold is fluctuating slightly as the fortunes of both candidates change throughout the vote count. Some analysts believe that a Biden win will be good for the gold price and conversely Trump winning would see downward pressure on the metal price.
At the moment, with Biden looking set to win the election we could see gold remain above the US$1,900 and move toward the $US$2,000 mark again.
Gold has remained fairly stable compared to the last US election when it became obvious that Trump would win and gold soared by about US$150 , but only briefly.