Astral Resources (ASX:AAR) has encountered additional ‘strong’ gold mineralisation from a reverse circulation (RC) drilling program at its Mandilla Gold Project in Western Australia.
The $64.97 million market capitalisation company says drilling at the Theia deposit comprised 37 holes for 5,531m and returned grades of up to 35.35 grams per tonne (g/t) gold.
Astral reports ‘wide’ zones of gold mineralisation were intersected to the south of Theia, highlighted in hole MDRC816 with 32m @ 1.74g/t Au from 120m and 31m @ 0.93g/t Au from 185m.
Other key results from this area include hole MDRC820 with 1m @ 35.35g/t Au from 115m; hole MDRC807 with 14m @ 1.19g/t Au from 42m; and hole MDRC813 with 1m @ 5.14g/t Au from 113m.
This comes in conjunction with gold mineralisation on the eastern flank of the deposit.
Infill drilling completed on the eastern flank was designed to join 2 zones of ‘high-grade’ mineralisation previously delineated over 320m of strike and returned results of up to 50m @ 1.18g/t Au and 6m @ 2.61g/t Au across 2 RC holes. These holes extended mineralisation between the known zones.
Further, Astral notes that an 8-week, 6-hole diamond drilling program at Theia is now complete. The drill core is currently being processed, with assays expected later this quarter.
The diamond drill rig has now been relocated to the Feysville Project for a 3-hole follow-up drilling program targeting ‘high-grade’ mineralisation at the Kamperman prospect.
Meanwhile, aircore (AC) drilling at the Eos deposit has also been completed, with results expected in the coming weeks.
Astral Resources Managing Director Marc Ducler says these results follow on from July’s Scoping Study and add to this already ‘significant’ and potentially profitable project.
“Following the release of the July 2023 MRE update and the September 2023 Mandilla Scoping Study, the exploration team has been busy with several drill programs across both Mandilla and Feysville.
“These latest RC in-fill drill results further demonstrate our ability to continually grow the resource base at Theia”
These latest RC in-fill drill results further demonstrate our ability to continually grow the resource base at Theia — which is already a significant deposit in terms of its scale — and, as demonstrated by the Scoping Study, a very significant deposit in terms of its potential profitability.”
Astral Resources is a gold-focused explorer targeting the exploration, growth, and development of its flagship Mandilla project and its Feysville project.
Mandilla is in the northern Widgiemooltha Greenstone Belt, about 70km south of the mining centre of Kalgoorlie, while Feysville is within the north-northwest-trending Norseman-Wiluna Greenstone Belt in the Archean Yilgarn Craton.
As of September 30, Astral Resources had $4.1 million cash and cash equivalents at hand after undertaking a $3 million placement in August. The company followed this up with a share purchase plan (SPP) to support both Mandilla and Feysville.
Write to Adam Drought at Mining.com.au
Images: Astral Resources
