Ora Banda Mining Ltd (ASX:OBM) has materially expanded the mineralised footprint of the Riverina Project in Western Australia, gaining 100 metres of strike to the south and a further 100 metres of plunge depth with high-grade gold hits in expansion drilling.
Ora Banda has received 29 results from 46 diamond drilled holes so far, which effectively doubled the depth of known mineralisation from 240 metres to 480 metres, with results of note including:
Main Lode East:
- 2.5 metres at 29.0 g/t gold from 232 metres;
- 2.4 metres at 26.4 g/t from 320.6 metres;
- 1.2 metres at 51.0 g/t from 257.8 metres;
- 3.4 metres at 14.3 g/t from 277.9 metres;
- 2.8 metres at 9.52 g/t from 238 metres; and
- 1-metre at 14.6 g/t from 558.2 metres.
Main Lode West:
- 2.0 metres at 13.2 g/t gold from 330 metres including 1-metre at 25.1 g/t; and
- 1.4 metres at 14.2 g/t from 578 metres.
Murchison Lode:
- 1-metre at 40.3 g/t gold from 171 metres;
- 0.9 metres at 30.5 g/t from 118.1 metres; and
- 0.7 metres at 26.1 g/t from 507.3 metres.
The deposit is open in all directions and Ora Banda believes there may be further mineralisation at greater depths, having only tested to 480 metres so far at the Main Lode while returning 1.4 metres at 14.2 g/t gold, and 410 metres at the Murchison lode, returning 0.7 metres at 26.1 g/t gold.
Riverina target “continues to impress”
“The drilling of Riverina as a high-grade underground target continues to impress, with the consistency of the mineralised structures and high-grade tenor giving us confidence that this is a large-scale system,” Ora Banda Mining managing director Luke Creagh said.
“We are excited by the results so far, as well as the positive impact these drill programs are expected to have on the underground resource estimate, which is on track to be updated in the March quarter.
“With that in mind, we are in a good position for a mining investment decision in the second half of FY23, which could potentially deliver high-grade underground ore to increase our production profile.”
In addition to expanding the Main and Murchison lodes, Ora Banda believes it has struck a parallel structure in this program of drilling, a lode dubbed 'Reggie' which returned results of 0.7 metres at 4.2 g/t and 0.5 metres at 6.8 g/t, offering further upside.
Given the success of its diamond drilling program, OBM has opted to expand it to 54 holes for a total of 15,331 metres, with 17 holes of the original program still pending results.
The company will also undertake a phase 2 program to further follow up on the results of particular note and enable an accelerated mining decision for the Riverina Project.