Kingwest Resources Limited (ASX: KWR) has announced a highly encouraging update on the MRE for the Pericles Prospect at its Menzies Gold Project (MGP) in WA.
The company reported a new Mineral Resource Estimate of 0.63 Mt at 1.8 g/t Au (Indicated) and 0.78 Mt at 1.7 g/t Au (Inferred) for 79,500 ounces for Pericles prospect in MGP. This is an 87% increase in contained gold at Pericles.
KWR said that the total near surface resources at Menzies now 3.29 Mt at 2.0 g/t Au for 208,300 ounces.
The company announced that the Pericles pit optimisation and economic studies are planned for H1, 2020.
Kingwest reported that other existing near surface Menzies resource estimates are being updated and new resource estimates are in progress for other near surface deposits.
The company noted that Pericles is the first of numerous deposits to be reviewed as potential near term open pit exploitable resources
Kingwest said that it plans to maintain its key focus on drilling and proving up high-grade gold mineralisation suitable for potential underground mining.
Menzies gold project
Menzies is one of Western Australia’s major historic gold fields, located 130 km north of Kalgoorlie and is reached via the sealed Goldfields Highway.
The MGP has recorded historical production of 643,200 oz @ 22.5g/t Au2 from underground (U/G) between 1895 and 1943 plus 145,000 oz @ 2.6g/t Au open cut between 1995 and 1999, for a total of 787,200 oz @ 18.9g/t Au.
The Menzies area comprises multiple prospects including Lady Irene, Selkirk, First Hit, Pericles, Lady Shenton, Lady Harriet, and Yunndaga.
The Pericles resource is shallow, extending from surface to 120 metres below surface and has potential to be exploited as an open pit.
Mineralisation at Pericles is hosted in two main stratigraphy-parallel gold mineralised shear/fracture zones within a highly metamorphosed sequence of mafic, ultramafic, metasedimentary and felsic schists
Pericles February 2020 MRE prepared
Kingwest announced that the Pericles February 2020 Mineral Resource Estimate (MRE) has been prepared and reported in accordance with the JORC 2012 Code.
The company said that the new estimate is based on new drilling by Kingwest Resources in 2019 and re-evaluation and remodelling of the deposit.
KWR noted that the new geological interpretation and resource estimate has been complete by Don Maclean, a consultant to Kingwest Resources.
The company said that the MRE is based on geological assay data from 182 RC and 5 diamond core drill holes completed up to the end of December 2019. RC drilling was completed by previous project operators.
The Pericles resource block model was compiled using Leapfrog Edge resource modelling software and a block size of 10 mE by 10 mN by 5 mRL was employed for grade estimation.
Gold (Au) was the only element estimated as it is the primary metal of economic significance. Samples were composited to one metre intervals which it the most common sample interval.
KWR said that a bulk density 2.7t/m3 was used for fresh rock based on 64 measurements from drill core in 2019, while a density of 1.8t/m3 was used for oxide material and 2.3t/m3 for transitional material.
The company said that the resource was reported at an 0.5 g/t and 1.0 g/t Au cut-off grades.
Pericles Gold Resource almost doubles
At Pericles, the company announced a new estimate of 0.63 Mt at 1.8 g/t Au (Indicated Resource) and 0.78 Mt at 1.7 g/t Au (Inferred Resource) for a combined total of 1.4Mt at 1.8 g/t Au (79.5K oz Au).
The company reported that this represents an 87% increase in contained Au metal over the previous estimate in March 2016.
Kingwest said that the new February 2020 estimate for Pericles globally contains significantly higher tonnages and contained gold ounces at lower grades than the February 2016 estimate.
February 2016 estimates
Resource were previously reported under JORC (2012) in March 2016 by Intermin Resources Limited. The estimate was completed by CoxRock Pty Ltd using inverse distance cubed interpolation, with gold grades top-cut to 15 g/t Au.
In the 2016 resource estimate, all resources were classified as Indicated. No Inferred resources were reported.
Other JORC resources
It may be noted that Pericles is not the only JORC resource in the MGP.
The company said that other resources at Yunndaga, Bellenger, and Warrior bring the total to 208,300 oz @ 1.96 g/t Au and numerous other deposits have potential for resource estimates to be calculated. KWR said that it is in the process of reviewing these existing and potential resources.
Next steps
The company announced that additional drilling is planned to infill Inferred Portions of the resource and to obtain material for bulk density and metallurgical testwork.
KWR said that the pit optimisation studies and further economic evaluation of the project are planned. The company said that a new site DTM will also be obtained.
Management comments
Kingwest CEO Ed Turner said: “This is another great result with limited amount of drilling late in 2019 contributing to an impressive increase in the Pericles resource estimate. Mineralisation remains open along strike and at depth and therefore further increases in the future are possible.”