Mila Resources PLC (LSE:MILA) has said it intends to focus its drilling in 2023 on areas along strike to the northwest of its Coffey deposit at the Kathleen Valley Gold Project in Western Australia after the final hole in the 2022 campaign showed uneconomic gold grades.
A down-hole magnetic survey was still indicating a strong signal and forms the core of the Coffey deposit, Mila noted.
In a statement, Mark Stephenson, Mila’s executive chairman, said: “Having delivered excellent drill results from the first 34 holes … with further analysis and as we move into 2023, we plan to commence a targeted drilling campaign focused on extending the mineralisation along strike to the NW where it is open and untested."
“We also anticipate publishing an updated independently modelled JORC resource estimate; currently, the project has a JORC Exploration Target (JET) of 145,000-280,000 oz at 1.8-2.5g/t gold, which we hope to grow substantially.
"Our geologists remain confident that the mineralogy at the Coffey deposit is consistent with Bellevue-style mineralogy in the region and that this exciting project, situated in the heart of some world-class mining assets, is economically viable," he added.
Kathleen Valley is located in a region that hosts some of the largest gold projects in Australia, including the adjacent, high-grade Bellevue Gold Project, the high-grade producing Agnew Gold Mine located around 50 kilometres (km) to the south and the Bronzewing Gold Mine 50km to the northeast. Initial drilling has confirmed consistent, high-grade mineralisation and Mila has been focussed on expanding this to define a sizeable gold-silver resource