The project includes the Theia, Iris, Eos and Hestia deposits and sits in a region that hosts world-class deposits such as the Super Pit in Kalgoorlie, owned by Northern Star Resources (ASX:NST), the St Ives Gold Mine owned by Gold Fields, and the Beta Hunt Gold Mine owned by Westgold Resources (ASX:WGX).
Back in April, Astral Resources (ASX:AAR) announced a mineral resource estimate of 42Mt at 1.1g/t gold for 1.43Moz of contained gold for the Mandilla project.
A June PFS detailed a standalone project comprising seven open pit mines including four at Mandilla (Theia, Hestia, Eos and Iris), and three at Feysville (Kamperman, Think Big and Rogan Josh) feeding a 2.75Mtpa processing facility, producing 95,000oz per year for the first 12 years.
It subsequently signed up Mineral Mining Services as a project development partner for Think Big, potentially generating cash flow to fund the larger scale development at Mandilla.
Work has since been ongoing to upgrade the confidence level of the resource heading into a DFS.
Latest assays for 20 holes of a 99-hole RC program have returned best results including:
- 22m at 1.65g/t gold from 44m, 19m at 3.53g/t gold from 73m, incl. 1m at 53.2g/t gold from 81m and 18m at 6.67g/t gold from 100m, incl. 1m at 97.5g/t gold from 105m
- 21m at 1.16g/t gold from 41m, 39m at 2.98g/t gold from 66m, incl. 1m at 10.4g/t gold from 78m, 1m at 15.5g/t gold from 83m, 1m at 13.2g/t gold from 95m and 1m at 21.1g/t gold from 102m
- 25m at 3.20g/t gold from 44m incl. 1m at 17.0g/t gold from 52m, 1m at 43.6g/t gold from 64m
- 27m at 3.23g/t gold from 37m incl. 1m at 35.3g/t gold from 51m
- 33m at 2.29g/t gold from 34m, incl. 1m at 12.0g/t gold from 38m, 1m at 11.5g/t gold from 64m; and
- 19m at 3.77g/t gold from 89m incl. 1m at 31.6g/t gold from 92m, 11m at 1.84g/t gold from 114m.
Drilling immediately west of Theia intersected an interpreted steeply-dipping gold mineralised structure in two holes, which may potentially represent a controlling structure to the Mandilla mineralisation.
As soon as the extensional RC drilling program currently being undertaken at the Kamperman deposit within the Feysville gold project is completed, the rig will be re-located to Mandilla to further test this newly discovered structure.
Astral managing director Marc Ducler said the infill drilling has reinforced the robust, high-grade nature of the Theia Stage 1 open pit.
“When you consider the wide high-grade in-fill results reported in this release – all within a starter pit with a strip ratio of less than 4:1, there is no doubt in our minds that Theia will be an incredible money-maker for Astral shareholders!” he said.
“Across these 20 holes, we have again averaged over 50-gram x metres of gold (56 gxm), further reinforcing our confidence in the windfall which the Theia starter pit can be.
“We are also very encouraged by the early drill results from Theia West.
“Intersecting two very high-grade zones of mineralisation in an undrilled area of a sedimentary package that was not previously considered prospective is very exciting and bodes well for future exploration success at Mandilla.”
Two drill programs are running concurrently.
“Firstly, at Theia, a diamond program is being undertaken testing the high-grade 230 shear (drilling completed) and, more recently, testing a potential parallel mineralised structure on the eastern flank,” Ducler said.
“Both of these structural tests appear to have been successful, with assay results expected in early December.
“The second drill program is an extensional RC program currently underway at Kamperman.
“Once this is complete the RC rig will be relocated to Mandilla to continue to test the new Theia West target.”
Astral continues to advance the Mandilla DFS, which is due for completion in the June quarter of 2026.
