Australian gold producer Red 5 (ASX:RED) has further defined current ore reserves following an underground drilling program at the King of the Hills (KOTH) Gold Mine in Western Australia.
The company says ‘significant’ assays have been received from 45,154m of underground drilling in 2022 across several key mining areas in the KOTH Underground.
Red 5 also notes that these results will underpin the financial year 2023 and 2024 mine plan, along with identifying new targets for potential resource expansion.
“These impressive drill results provide further support for our mine plan over FY23 and FY24″
Commenting on the drill results, Red 5 Managing Director Mark Williams said: “These impressive drill results provide further support for our mine plan over FY23 and FY24, as well as open up potential new mining areas for the future. King of the Hills is an enormous orebody, with significant areas remaining relatively undrilled, providing excellent potential for continued growth.”
At the main orebody, Red 5 reports the Regal and Eastern Flank areas represent a ‘significant’ mining area for the KOTH Underground in financial year 2024, with capital development currently underway, Resource definition and grade control drilling completed in 2022 focused on the eastern contact, below and adjacent to the current underground mining areas.
A total of 19,272m of diamond drilling has been undertaken in the Regal and Eastern Flank areas. Key results recorded here include KHRD0868 with 10m @ 79.62g/t Au from 160.5m; KHRD0756 with 1m @ 51.48g/t au from 125m; and KHRD0685 with 6.8m @ 35.06g/t Au from 150.5m.
At the Central area, Red 5 completed a total of 7,897m of drilling aiming to delineate a narrow vein mining area. The Central area represents the southwestern extent of the underground workings, which sit approximately below the centre of the existing Tarmoola pit, between the South and North pits. Hole KHRD0851 intersected 3.4m @ 49.40g/t Au from 73m.
Drilling at the Kingdom area targeted the upper granite contact to the west of the existing workings proximal to the intersection of the Kingdom and Regal structure. Red 5 reports 7,636m was drilled here in 2022, which intersected mineralisation associated with laminated quartz-filled structures interpreted to be continuations of the Regal and Kingdom lodes. Hole KHRD0552 intersected 37m @ 2.49g/t Au from 22m.
Red 5 reports drilling in the West Bulk area conducted in 2022 totalled 6,562m targeting east-west striking ‘high-grade’ veins proximal to the granodiorite-ultramafic contact to the north of existing workings following the contact down-plunge.
Key intercepts recorded here include KHRD0855 with 5.8m @ 100.90g/t Au from 85m; KHRD0857 with 10.10m @ 10.22g/t Au from 67m; and KHRD0643 with 8m @ 6.97g/t Au from 51m.
The company says the drilling was designed to define potential bulk mining areas for financial year 2023 and 2024, with broad mineralised zones identified as expected.
Red 5 reports previous drilling undertaken at the South Pit as part of the KOTH Feasibility Study intersected thin, frequent, and ‘well-mineralised’ structures, as well as bulk-style mineralisation, The mineralisation intersected was ‘strongest’ closer to the granodiorite contact or near several interpreted South Pit ‘high-grade’ lodes.
The company says this drilling has the potential to deepen the proposed open pit, or may represent future underground potential, and further infill drilling will be required. Along with this potential identified during the Feasibility Study, Red 5 says ‘significant’ potential has also been identified to expand the South Pit based on drilling out the inferred resource components outside the current pit design.
With mineralisation still open at depth, the resource under the South Pit is expected to be increased with further drilling. The company notes work is underway to evaluate the potential mineralisation that can be converted into an indicated resource status for evaluation to convert to open pit ore reserves.
Red 5 is an Australian gold producer focused on its assets across Western Australia. The company’s portfolio includes the King of the Hills Gold Mine and processing hub, as well as the Darlot Gold Mine. It also holds a 3.25% smelter royalty interest in the Siana Gold Mine located in the Philippines.
Images: Red 5 Limited