Mandalay Resources Corp. (TSX:MND, OTCQB:MNDJF) has updated shareholders on its Björkdal operations in Sweden with encouraging highlights from drilling at the Eastern Plunge Extension and intercepts from the Aurora Upper Extension.
"Björkdal is a high tonnage and low-grade gold mine with the potential for significant profit growth at relatively small increases to mined gold grades,” Dominic Duffy, president and CEO of Mandalay said in a statement.
“To this end, a major focus of our near mine exploration program was to identify areas of higher grades that can be prioritized within our short to medium-term mining schedules. Excitingly, these consistent drill results from the Eastern Plunge Extension program are exceeding our expectations by producing highly significant grades the likes of which we would consider exceptional at our high-grade Costerfield mine in Australia," he added.
READ: Mandalay Resources reveals reserve and resource increase, grade improvement for Björkdal gold mine in Sweden
New Drilling Highlights:
Eastern Plunge Extension
- 783.0 grams per ton (g/t) gold over 0.35 metres (m) - Estimated True Width (ETW) 0.25m - in MU22-032;
- 104.7 g/t gold over 1.00m (ETW 0.87m) in MU22-031; and
- 22.7 g/t gold over 3.90m (ETW 3.19m) in MU22-029.
Aurora Extension
- 89.5 g/t gold over 0.30m (ETW 0.23m) in MU22-027;
- 2.9 g/t gold over 3.50m (ETW 3.05m); and
- 36.0 g/t gold over 0.30m (ETW 0.15m) in ME22-004.
Björkdal's recently announced year-end 2022 Mineral Resources and Reserves estimate has now been raised by 11%, taking the Mineral Reserves' gold grade from 1.39 g/t to 1.54 g/t for the 11.6 million tonnes in Proven and Probable Reserves, noted Duffy.
Outlook
Mandalay said current underground drilling locations do not provide support for further extension of the eastern plunge extension, however mining is now scheduled for the area and once more appropriate drilling horizons have been developed extension drilling will continue to further explore this potential.
Exploration is also currently ongoing on the extension of the veining in North Zone and the depth extension of the Aurora System below the Marble Horizon. An update on this drilling is expected in Q2 2023 once the current extension program is complete.
Mandalay Resources is a Canadian-based natural resource company with producing assets in Australia and Sweden with projects in Chile and Canada under closure or development status. The company is focused on growing its production and reducing costs to generate significant positive cashflow.
Contact the author at jon.hopkins@proactiveinvestors.com