Copper and gold developer Kingston Resources Ltd. has reported a major 50 per cent upgrade to the mineral resource estimate (MRE) its Mineral Hill mine in the Cobar Basin of New South Wales.
The company confirmed that the Southern Ore Zone (SOZ) mineral resource estimate has expanded from 4.36 million tonnes to 6.54 million tonnes.
The jump follows the successful completion of a 26-hole diamond drilling campaign spanning 3,413 metres, which validated Kingston’s existing geological model and proved that high-grade mineralisation extends well beyond previously defined boundaries.
The expansion is backed by a major lift in high-confidence categories. Measured and Indicated resources rose 38 per cent to 3.05 million tonnes, handing the company an extra 800,000 tonnes of material ready to be evaluated for future ore reserve conversion.
Meanwhile, the Inferred resource grew 62 per cent to 3.49 million tonnes, with the deposit remaining wide open in all directions.
The SOZ upgrade pushes Kingston’s total inventory across the broader Mineral Hill project up by 22 per cent to 12.07 million tonnes. Total contained metal is now estimated at 873,000 ounces of gold equivalent at 2.2 grams per tonne or 323,000 tonnes of copper equivalent at 2.7 per cent.
Kingston Resources Managing Director and CEO Andrew Corbett said: “This update is a demonstration of what can be achieved at Mineral Hill with a relatively small amount of drilling,”
“The SOZ resource remains open in all directions with drilling currently underway.”
Armed with a strengthened geological framework, the miner is embarking on a 25,000-metre drilling blitz over the next 12 months. This extended campaign will target further extensions at SOZ and look to upgrade the nearby historic Jack’s Hut deposit.
Jack’s Hut is the second most advanced underground deposit and already has a separate decline and development infrastructure. It was historically mined in the 1990s at high grade.
The company plans to deliver a Jack’s Hut resource update as the 25,000m program progresses, providing the pipeline necessary to support a potential processing plant expansion toward 700,000 tonnes per annum.
