Great Boulder Resources (ASX:GBR) is anticipating it will be able to add more near-surface gold ounces to its resource following additional “high-grade” results from drilling at Mulga Bill prospect in Western Australia.
The junior explorer, which has a market capitalisation of $29.8 million, reports a top hit of 5m @ 40.61 grams per tonne (g/t) gold from 256m including 1m @ 194.50g/t from 258m.
Other intersections reported were 5m @ 43.13/t from 185m including 2m @ 102.80/t from 186m, 6m @ 20.52g/t from 179m including 2m @ 57.10g/t from 179m, and 5m @ 16.93g/t from 91m including 2m @ 39.70g/t from 92m.
The reverse circulation drilling at Mulga Bill, which is part of Great Boulder’s flagship Side Well Gold Project near Meekatharra, has extended the resource and added thickness and grade to existing lodes.
Investors welcomed the news, driving shares up over 28% on Wednesday to an intra-day high of $0.063.
Managing Director Andrew Paterson says the most recent drill holes were designed to add definition within areas of inferred resources.
“They have done so in emphatic style, with intersections that are both thicker and higher grade than previously estimated,” he says.
“Equally impressive is the deep result in hole 24MBRC030 which is well outside the resource, downdip and further north than previous drilling in that area.”
“After several rounds of drilling at Mulga Bill the high-grade lode positions fit our interpretation perfectly, which means we have very high confidence in the validity of this resource model.”
Paterson notes the drilling has added ‘high-grade’ intersections up-dip from previous holes on several sections within the resource, which should add gold ounces closer to the surface than the current estimate.
“This will be important for potential mine economics when we start Scoping Studies,” he says.
Nine holes were drilled at Mulga Bill for a total of 1,587m. The program was designed to test poorly defined areas around the edges of the Mulga Bill “high-grade” vein positions as part of the process to upgrade less-drilled parts of the resource from the inferred to indicated category.
Just yesterday Great Boulder revealed it had added a group of key tenements in Western Australia to its portfolio, giving the company more than 35km of contiguous strike over the Side Well Gold Project. The project hosts a resource of 668,000 ounces @ 2.8g/t.
Great Boulder is completing the final resource definition RC holes at Mulga Bill, and will then begin maiden aircore drilling on the high-priority Side Well South Prospect in parallel with resource definition RC drilling at Saltbush, due for completion in October.
The company also expects to receive the results of two deep diamond holes recently drilled at Mulga Bill next month.
The latest drilling results will be included in a resource update slated for release towards the end of the year.
Write to Angela East at Mining.com.au
Images: Great Boulder Resources
