Mandalay Resources Corporation has reported encouraging drill results, which augur well for future growth at its Costerfield operation - one of the world’s highest-grade gold mines and Australia’s highest-grade antimony mine.
The latest assays hail from the Shepherd Zone, while the firm also updated on the ongoing Costerfield Deeps drill program at the mine.
As reported in June this year, the newly discovered Shepherd Zone showed high grades at both the eastern and western veins, which underscored the potential for a large system. Now, Mandalay has revealed that drilling under the Youle orebody had mapped the Shepherd Zone into five distinct veins.
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The group of eastern veins has now been extended to the south and can be traced over 400 metres (m) of strike, and around 100m vertically, noted the company, while the Shepherd system remained open to the north, south and at depth.
Drill highlights from the eastern veins include 24.6 grams per ton (g/t) gold and 2.3% antimony over a true width of 1.19m in one hole, and at the western veins, 155 g/t gold and 10.5% antimony over a true width of 0.11m was hit in another hole.
"Despite a redirection of resources to other near-mine targets while appropriate drilling platforms were established, the drilling and interpretive work on Shepherd yielded excellent results," said Dominic Duffy, CEO of Mandalay.
"Mandalay is very encouraged by the 150m extension of veining, which also includes one of the largest intercepts within the system discovered to-date. As the resolution of data increased, our understanding evolved around what was previously understood as two veining horizons, which are now interpreted to be five distinct veins."
He also noted that the southern zone was found to be rich in antimony - considered a critical mineral by the Australian government - and was still open to the south and at depth.
Duffy added that in conjunction with the Shepherd drilling campaign, the firm's ongoing Costerfield Deeps project had advanced with two deep holes underneath the multi-million-ounce Costerfield corridor.
Notably, one hole sunk underneath the Cuffley deposit intercepted two instances of visible gold within quartz veining at 998m and 1,169m down-hole.
"This result taken alongside the initial high-grade intercepts drilled in 2016, indicated that the system at depth (900m below surface) is 500m wide," said the company boss.
"Both the incremental steps taken with the discovery of Shepherd and the step-out drilling conducted within the Costerfield Deeps program are providing a strong foundation for future growth at Costerfield, which is currently one of the world’s highest-grade gold mines and Australia’s highest-grade antimony mine," Duffy concluded.
Mandalay noted that a video had been prepared on this update by the firm's vice-president of operational geology and exploration Chris Davis, which can be viewed HERE.
Contact the author at giles@proactiveinvestors.com