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Ora Banda Mining's strong initial Iguana gold results confirm resource potential

Last updated: 01:47 28 Jun 2021 BST, First published: 01:28 28 Jun 2021 BST

Ora Banda Mining Ltd - Ora Banda Mining unveils initial results from Iguana resource definition campaign
A three-phase drilling campaign is underway at Ora Banda's Iguana deposit to upgrade and extend the asset's mineral resource.

Ora Banda Mining Ltd (ASX:OBM) (FRA:M6N) has unveiled the first suite of assays from infill drilling at Iguana gold deposit in Western Australia with potential to provide additional feed for the nearby Davyhurst processing plant.

In April 2021, 27 reverse circulation (RC) holes covering 3,750 metres were completed over the prospect, which forms part of the Lady Ida Project area.

As much as 1-metre at 41.3 g/t gold has been uncovered at Iguana during the campaign’s early stages, with phase one resource definition drilling now complete.

The infill campaign forms part of a broader program to upgrade and expand Iguana’s mineral resource, which currently stands at 2.722 million tonnes at 2.0 g/t gold for 175,000 ounces.

Iguana “on the right track”

Ora Banda CEO Peter Nicholson said: “The strong initial drilling results indicate that our development plans for the Iguana deposit are on the right track.

“This is a large deposit that has the potential to deliver higher-grade ore to our 1.2 million tonnes per annum Davyhurst processing plant.

“We have more work scheduled at Iguana and remain excited to see what the next round of drilling delivers to allow us to move forward with assessing the potential for material mine life extension via this deposit.”

Results are in

Some of the best results from phase one drilling at Iguana include:

  • 9 metres at 7.6 g/t gold from 181 metres, including 7 metres at 9.6 g/t;
  • 30 metres at 2.2 g/t from 31 metres, including 23 metres at 2.7 g/t;
  • 21 metres at 3.2 g/t from 69 metres, including 1-metre at 41.3 g/t and 7 metres at 3.5 g/t and;
  • 2 metres at 13.6 g/t from 136 metres.

Targeting resource expansion

Myriad works are planned at the Iguana deposit to upgrade and expand its mineral resource, with a 10,400-metre, 69-hole campaign underway.

Phase one of the program — the 3,750 metres of reverse circulation drilling — is now complete, meaning Ora Banda can progress to phase two: 500 metres of diamond core drilling.

Once this runs its course, the ASX-lister intends to complete 6,150 metres of reverse circulation drilling at Iguana in phase three.

The initial Iguana infill drilling program targeted the immediate resource area roughly 750 metres long 300 metres wide and 120 metres deep, while the bulk of the drilling was conducted inside the A$2,100 optimised resource constraint shell.

Prospective deposit at Lady Ida

Iguana lies around 55 kilometres south of Ora Banda’s Davyhurst Processing Plant, which also falls within the Lady Ida Project area.

The area was actively explored by Delta Gold in the 1990s, with open-pit mining operations centred on the Iguana, Lizard and Blue Tongue deposits occurring between February 2000 and August 2001.

Iguana is one of two mineral resources within the Lady Ida asset, with roughly 75% of the deposit’s JORC 2004 resource currently classified as inferred.

Ultimately, fresh exploration seeks to upgrade the prospect’s resource classification and JORC status, allowing work to commence on the creation of an ore reserve to extend the existing Davyhurst Project mine life.

Ora Banda Mining upbeat on further high grade gold exploration results

Ora Banda Mining Ltd (ASX:OBM)'s Peter Nicholson discusses further strong results from first-pass regional aircore and brownfields reverse circulation drilling at its Victoria Workings and Sky regional prospects around the Davyhurst Gold Project northwest of Kalgoorlie in Western Australia....

on 28/10/21