Meteoric Resources NL (ASX: MEI) (FRA:RNF) has upgraded the Juruena Project resource in Brazil to 1.9 million tonnes at 6.3 g/t for 387,000 ounces of gold, an increase of 50% over the previous resource.
Meteoric managing director Dr Andrew Tunks Meteoric said: “Firstly, huge congratulations to the Brazilian geologists, staff and contractors who have worked long and diligently at Juruena to deliver these outstanding results to shareholders, against a backdrop of unprecedented world events.
“This substantial increase of the Mineral Resource will allow us to seriously assess development scenarios on the ground for the first time.
“With 40% of the global resource classified into the Indicated Category, we now have sufficient significant resources to update the 2017 Scoping Study and prepare an application for a mining license.”
It is worth noting that 40% of the resource is classified into the indicated category, representing a 100,000-ounce gold increase, with the bulk of the increase at Dona Maria where the orebody has been significantly extended down plunge.
Dr Tunks said: “Having now seen this significant increase in total ounces, we have looked at using different cut-offs for shallow and deeper mineralisation and it’s clear there is great potential for both initial open pit mining to moderate depths followed by deeper underground mining.
“These ideas will be rigorously examined and costed during development studies.
“This significant resource increase, particularly in the Indicate Category, where we have had over 170% growth in ounces at a grade in excess of half an ounce per tonne gold, lends support for our down plunge exploration strategy.
All three deposits at Juruena remain open at depth with the potential to further increase the resource.
In addition, Crentes has significant copper potential that was not estimated due to a lack of historic copper sampling
Dr Tunks added: “Looking further afield, the drilling success supports using the same exploration strategy to further test down plunge targets at both Querosene and Crentes projects.
“Finally, the deep copper-gold potential at Juruena is currently being assessed. Our deep IP survey was used to target our deep drilling program, which is still in its early stages, but already intersecting promising indications of a mineralised magmatic (porphyry) system.”