Great Boulder Resources Ltd (ASX:GBR) is saying ‘eureka!’ after establishing a maiden 518,000-ounce gold resource at its flagship Side Well Project in Meekatharra, WA.
The JORC 2012-compliant resource covers ore from the Mulga Bill and Ironbark deposits and includes a high-grade 370,000-ounce component, weighing in at 5 g/t gold.
The mineral resource estimate’s (MRE) gold ounces are shallow — they’re delineated from roughly 30 metres to 300 metres at Mulga Bill and from surface to 150 metres at Ironbark. Crucially, three-quarters of the MRE has open pit mining potential.
With the maiden resource under its belt, GBR hopes to recommence growth-focused drilling at Side Well in early February.
Scalable opportunity
The MRE comes just six months after a gold discovery at Ironbark and 18 months after a breakthrough at Mulga Bill, with exploration costs clocking in at around A$17 an ounce.
As such, GBR believes it’s primed to establish a major gold camp, wherein Mulga Bill and Ironbark represent just two targets in an extensive pipeline of untested regional prospects.
Mineralisation at both deposits remains open along strike and at depth, and GBR has only explored and defined mineral resources over 1.7 kilometres of the combined 18 kilometres of gold opportunity at Mulga Bill and Ironbark.
What’s more, Mulga Bill’s copper mineralisation has not been included in the MRE and will be advanced with ongoing drilling. Down the line, it could be included as a potentially value-accretive by-product credit.
From a development perspective, Side Well rubs shoulders with strategic resources, mines and processing infrastructure — the closest operating mill is roughly 25 kilometres southwest by road.
The locality could prove useful as GBR works to understand Side Well’s broader potential.
“Zero to 518,000 ounces”
Great Boulder managing director Andrew Paterson said the MRE incorporated all the drilling at Mulga Bill and Ironbark over the past two years.
“To go from zero to 518,000 ounces in that time is an exciting milestone for the company,” he explained.
Paterson said the maiden resource estimate was significant for three main reasons.
“Firstly, it materially de-risks Side Well by demonstrating that we understand the controls on mineralisation at Mulga Bill such that we can demonstrate continuity on multiple gold-bearing structures to build up a significant resource inventory.
“Secondly, it’s a fantastic effort to get to 518,000 ounces of gold after two years of drilling with such a small team. It’s a significant milestone on our way to the million ounces of gold that we believe the project has the potential to contain.
“Lastly, it demonstrates the broader potential of the project.”
Paterson continued: “This estimate covers a relatively small area of the project and we already have extensional targets on both deposits plus more drilling to define the potential at Flagpole and Loaded Dog.
“Then there’s the regional targets along the prospective eastern stratigraphy of Side Well. I think we will see substantial growth to the resource inventory throughout the year and into 2024 from extensional drilling and new discoveries.”