Kin Mining NL’s (ASX:KIN) drilling at Mertondale 5 pit within the Cardinia Gold Project (CGP) near Leonora in WA has confirmed that the ore body extends at depth.
Results of 14.0 metres at 2.5 g/t gold from 217 metres and 3.8 metres at 1.0 g/t from 279.2 metres highlight the potential for lode-style open pit mining to extend and deepen the historical pit.
This pit produced 384,671 tonnes at 3.06 g/t gold for 37,841 ounces.
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The drilling has significantly improved the company’s geological understanding of the Mertondale 5 prospect and will guide future resource development drilling.
This work will target expansion and category upgrade of the existing resources at the deposit, which are estimated at 1.03 million tonnes at 1.8 g/t for 60,000 ounces.
Three diamond holes were drilled at Mertondale 5 during February for a total of 1,022 metres.
The program was designed to test the down dip and down plunge extensions of high-grade gold mineralisation beneath the historical open cut pit.
All three holes intersected a sheared sequence of fine-grained felsic volcanic and sedimentary rocks and drilled through to the western basalt unit which bounds the mineralised shear zone.
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A broad zone of alteration including strongly anomalous silver and arsenic mineralisation accompanies the gold mineralisation.
Silver values are proportional to gold, higher in the eastern, hanging wall side and lower on the western footwall side.
The deposit remains open down plunge and at depth.
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Kin has submitted a suite of mineralised intervals for metallurgical test work while an updated geological model is underway.
This will be followed by an updated mineral resource estimate, which will be incorporated into a feasibility study for the CGP, which is due for completion in mid-2019.
Mertondale 5 was not included in the 2017 definitive feasibility study and has good potential to be included in a future mine plan for the CGP.
Subject to results of the test work and the resource estimate, further drilling is planned north and south of the existing Mertondale 5 pit.