Rumble Resources (ASX:RTR) has upgraded the Western Queen Gold Project’s resource estimate to 4.42 million tonnes at 2.02 grams per tonne (g/t) gold for 286,600 ounces — an increase of 76%.
The previous mineral resource estimate (MRE), which was completed in August 2021, totalled 2.1 million tonnes at 2.42g/t gold for 163,268 ounces.
Rumble Resources, which has a market capitalisation of $39.85 million, says this update includes indicated and inferred resources.
Western Queen’s indicated resource now totals 2.39 million tonnes at 2.11g/t gold for 163,000 ounces of gold. This represents a 142% increase from the 2021 resource estimate, which totalled 1.1 million tonnes at 1.95g/t gold for 67,145 ounces.
CEO Peter Harold says the company believes Western Queen is one of the most underexplored “high-grade” gold projects in Western Australia.
“The 76% increase in contained ounces is an extremely positive development for Rumble and highlights the quality of the resources at Western Queen,” he says.
“We now have 286,000 ounces of gold averaging just over 2g/t on granted mining leases, within trucking distance of existing operating gold plants, historical production of 215,000 ounces together with significant exploration prospectivity.
“The exploration team is to be complemented on this work and we look forward to more positive newsflow from Western Queen including the results from the next phase of drilling as we move towards production from Western Queen South.”
Mineralisation at Western Queen remains open along strike and at depth along the 2.7km shear zone, and shows potential for additional resource growth.
Rumble Resources says further drilling aims to increase the new MRE, with up to 12,000m of reverse circulation and diamond drilling planned to be conducted in the coming months. Drilling will test all of the underexplored areas.
The Western Queen Project in Western Australia is located within a 100km radius of three gold processing mills — the closest being the Dalgaranga Mill which has a capacity of 2.5 million tonnes per year.
Rumble Resources is an Australia-based explorer with a portfolio of projects considered prospective for gold, zinc, lead, and silver.
Write to Aaliyah Rogan at Mining.com.au
Images: Rumble Resources
