OzAurum Resources has confirmed high-grade mineralisation at the James stage 1 open pit within the Mulgabbie North gold project in Western Australia’s Eastern goldfields.
First assay results from the latest reverse circulation (RC) drilling programme confirm consistent, shallow, high-grade gold mineralisation, giving the company increased confidence in the proposed Stage 1 open pit design.
The results also support OzAurum’s strategy to advance Mulgabbie North towards near-term, low-cost heap leach development.
The initial 45 holes of a completed 91-hole grade control program have demonstrated strong grade continuity within the planned Stage 1 pit. Significant intercepts include 14 metres at 2.09 grams per tonne of gold (g/t) from 15 metres in MNORC 314, and 9 metres at 61 g/t Au from 15 metres in MNORC 307.
OzAurum CEO Andrew Pumphrey said: “These first-grade control results from the James Stage 1 open pit confirm the consistency and shallow nature of high-grade gold mineralisation, providing increased confidence in our initial open pit design.
“Importantly, the results support our strategy of advancing Mulgabbie North towards a simple, low-cost heap leach operation, with preliminary metallurgical testwork indicating the potential for rapid and attractive gold recoveries.”
OzAurum also saw encouraging heap leach testwork, which supports a low-cost processing pathway. Preliminary column leach testwork indicates gold recovery of over 60 per cent within seven days and over 80 per cent within 21 days. Final results are expected in four to five weeks.
The company is preparing a Stage 1 heap leach small mining proposal and is targeting submission to the Department of Mines, Petroleum and Exploration in the coming weeks, marking a key step in potential near-term production.
