The Mandilla project has 784,000 ounces of gold based on the last resource update in January, its third in less than a year, and the company has high expectations for further growth for its project, some 70km south of Kalgoorlie, based on recent results.
RC drilling in the cornerstone Theia deposit returned assays such as 4m at 24.6 grams per tonne from 126m, over a further 21m at 0.46gpt from 184m, targeting an interpreted high‐grade trend on the western flank, outside the resource, but within the optimised pit shell.
Five RC pre-collars were completed, with some reporting minor mineralisation, with a best result of 10m at 0.99gpt from 76m.
Further along strike at the Iris deposit, RC drilling delivered a best result of 20m at 1.42gpt from 174m, while resampled aircore samples from the Eos deposit on 1m intervals improved on earlier results, such as 2m at 13.4gpt from 51m and 1m at 11.9gpt from 49m.
A 17-hole, 4700m diamond drilling campaign is now underway, with all three holes completed so far reporting visible gold. The holes have targeted interpreted extensions of Theia’s high‐grade trends.
Managing director Marc Ducler said the signs were good that the next resource update may not only add ounces, but improve Mandilla’s overall grade from 1gpt, and help extend resources at depth.
Theia and Iris are quartz vein deposits associated with the Spargoville sediments, while Eos in the south is a relatively shallow high‐grade mineralised paleochannel deposit.
Astral announced the Hestia discovery, to the west, in a in a different geological setting.
While it is still early days, the mineralisation is hosted within a sheared mafic/sediment contact associated with the Spargoville shear, which hosts the large Ghost Crab/Mt Marion and the high-grade Wattle Dam mines.
The company had cash of A$3.2 million at June 30.
