Santana Minerals (ASX:SMI) says two infill holes have extended the HG1 ‘high-grade’ domain at the Rise and Shine South deposit within its Bendigo-Ophir Gold Project in New Zealand.
The drilling targets areas central to the proposed early mining sequence and aims to reduce spacing to 25m along section.
Hole MDD529 returned 20.7m @ 4.8 grams per tonne gold (Au) from 168.8m, with an estimated true width of 17.5m.
A second interval returned 2.3m @ 19.7g/t Au from 198m, with an estimated true width of 1.9m.
Hole MDD530 intersected 25.8m @ 1.1g/t Au from 152.5m and 11m @ 8.5g/t Au from 182m. The intervals have estimated true widths of 22.9m and 9.7m, respectively.
The hole also returned 11.3m @ 7.3g/t Au from 234m, with an estimated true width of 10m.
Santana interprets the deeper interval as a possible stacked repetition beneath HG1 and the limits of the previously planned open pit. However, the deeper stratigraphy remains relatively untested.
CEO Damian Spring says the closer-spaced drilling is improving the company’s interpretation of the HG1 domain.
“The tighter we drill this HG1 domain, the better and more consistent it becomes,” Spring says.
“It allows us to enhance our early mining strategy for the areas of planned open pit mining as we advance towards a development decision.”
Together with results announced in July, the latest drilling allows Santana to project HG1 farther west. The company says MDD530 clarifies a previously uncertain link between the domain and earlier hole MDD125.
Santana has also identified narrow dilatational breccias across the holes, including sections containing millimetre-scale visible gold.
Three holes remain in the infill program.
Santana Minerals is an Australia-based gold developer advancing the Bendigo-Ophir Gold Project. Rise and Shine is one of four deposits with mineral resource estimates along the project’s Rise and Shine Shear Zone.
Write to France Pinzon at Mining.com.au
Images: Santana Minerals
