Astral Resources NL has fielded strong assays from two diamond drill holes at the Theia deposit, part of the Mandilla Gold Project in Western Australia, that in aggregate account for 1,079 gram-metres along the length of one hole.
Holes MDRCD917 and MDRCD918 contained grades up to 1 metre at 223.3 g/t gold from 15 metres of depth and 0.95 metres at 227.6 g/t from 197.25 metres among more than a dozen other results grading above 10 g/t.
AAR says the results demonstrate a strong correlation with the mineralisation model set out in the current mineral resource estimate, boding well for a future upgrade to the higher confidence indicated category.
Best-ever intersections
"The four-hole diamond drill program completed in December 2024 returned an average of 401 gram-metres when aggregating the reported mineralised intersections along the length of each hole,” Astral Resources managing director Marc Ducler said.
"The final hole – MDRCD918 – returned the best-ever metal accumulation in a single hole at Mandilla with an outstanding 1,079 gram-metres.
"Given the key objective of this drill program was to upgrade deeper inferred mineral resources at Theia to the higher confidence indicated category, these results provide encouragement that we may have achieved this goal.
"Cube Consulting is currently working on an update to the Mandilla MRE. Once complete, this will pave the way for the commencement of detailed mine design and scheduling for the upcoming Mandilla pre-feasibility study."
He said the mineral resource estimate (MRE) update was expected to be completed later this quarter.
Ongoing drilling
“Programs of diamond and aircore drilling are currently underway at Feysville," Ducler said.
“The diamond drilling at the Kamperman deposit is designed to improve our understanding of the controls to the high-grade mineralisation which has previously been intersected in several holes.
“The aircore drilling is designed to investigate several promising structural targets, with 6.3 line-kilometres of drilling planned, to see if we can vector into potential new discoveries along trend from the known deposits."
A three-hole, 350-metre diamond drilling campaign is underway at Kamperman within the Feysville Project, targeting structural controls associated with high-grade mineralisation and collecting metallurgical samples.
That program will be followed up by a 17-hole, 1,610-metre geotechnical drilling program at Kamperman as well as the Rogan Josh and Think Big deposits.
Finally, AAR kicked off an aircore drilling program on January 20 at Feysville, with six lines to be completed over 4.3 line-kilometres to test the Central Feysville Anticline and four lines (1.7 line-kilometres) testing structural targets on the southern tenements of the project.
Full assay results
MDRCD918:
- 1 metre at 223.3 g/t gold from 15 metres;
- 1 metre at 12.2 g/t from 149 metres;
- 9.6 metres at 27.6 g/t from 194 metres including 0.95 metres at 227.6 g/t from 197.25 metres and 1 metre at 33.1 g/t from 199 metres;
- 2.4 metres at 169.1 g/t from 225 metres;
- 2.0 metres at 4.15 g/t from 270 metres;
- 3.6 metres at 7.14 g/t from 303 metres including 0.4 metres at 54.5 g/t from 303.35 metres;
- 12 metres at 0.52 g/t from 333 metres; and
- 24.9 metres at 4.14g/t from 362 metres including 0.7 metres at 11.3 g/t from 362.3 metres, 0.3 metres at 11.3 g/t from 364.55 metres, 1 metre at 60.6 g/t from 375 metres and 0.3 metres at 24.6 g/t from 380.7 metres.
MDRCD917:
- 72.2 metres at 1.15 g/t gold from 326 metres including 0.3 metres at 34.9 g/t from 328.35 metres and 0.62 metres at 25.6 g/t from 396 metres;
- 2.2 metres at 15.4 g/t from 317.6 metres including 1.05 metres at 29.9 g/t from 317.62 metres; and
- 22 metres at 0.57 g/t from 105 metres.
Assays were also received for a 3-hole, 360-metre reverse circulation drilling program over the southern extent of the Kamperman deposit at Feysville, with best results grading up to 6 metres at 1.04 g/t gold from 114 metres of depth.