BMG Resources (ASX: BMG) has launched a round-the-clock diamond drilling campaign at its Abercromby gold project near Wiluna in Western Australia to expand the current 518,000 ounce resource.
The drilling follows BMG’s advanced preparations flagged in mid-November and will probe high-grade gold zones at Abercromby, initially seeking a resource expansion through extensional drilling of high-grade gold zones beyond the existing resource model.
BMG then hopes to upgrade almost 7 million tonnes of inferred status resource at the project to the higher-confidence indicated category.
The first diamond core hole is being drilled at the southern end of the Capital deposit and is planned to run to a downhole depth of 430m.
The extensional resource drilling phase will be followed by comprehensive infill drilling to upgrade lower resource categories and to support ongoing resource and mining reserves development.
Abercromby’s maiden mineral resource estimate is centred on its Capital deposit in the northwestern part of the northernmost of the project’s two contiguous mining leases.
BMG says mineralisation within the Capital zone remains open at depth in the north-west and south-east along strike and that only 1.2km of the 6km of prospective stratigraphy has been properly tested by drilling throughout the trend’s history.
The current resource estimate comprises a total indicated and inferred 11.12mt at a grade of 1.45g/t gold for 518,000 ounces of gold. It includes 354,000 inferred and indicated ounces of gold at a grade of 1.17g/t gold extending from the surface.
That estimate lies within a bigger global resource currently figured to contain about 670,000 ounces of gold, within current maximum limits of cohesive exploration data.
The underground component of the resource currently includes 164,000 ounces of inferred and indicated gold at an average grade of 3.09g/t gold lying between 200m and 500m below the surface.
The first phase of new drilling will now test for extensions to the mineralisation at the Capital deposit, with further drilling planned to test for new gold discoveries at regional targets. BMG will also aim to convert inferred resources in the maiden Abercromby resource estimate to the higher confidence indicated category, with a view to completing further development studies leading to a robust scoping study for a potential mining operation.
BMG Resources’ Non-Executive Chairman John Prineas
After the current rounds of diamond drilling are completed around the immediate Capital zone, BMG plans more diamond and reverse circulation (RC) drilling next year to test other targets south along strike from Capital, in what it calls its “Discovery zone”.
The proposed new work will encompass the full strike of the mineralisation within the company’s two tenements, extending all the way south to its Barrack and Archer prospects.
Air-core (AC) drilling has reported 4m running 1.46g/t gold from 44m at Barrack, while at Archer, three 4m AC intercepts range through 0.99g/t, 1.21g/t and 3.58g/t gold from 28m, 36m and 52m depths respectively.
The numbers and drill logging at Barrack-Archer confirm an extensive high-grade gold system exists along the strike corridor of mineralisation and supports the potential for new discoveries similar to the Capital zone.
Minimal drilling has been undertaken within a zone more than 2km long in the centre of BMG’s tenure, between Capital and the Archer-Barrack zone.
Importantly for the project’s economic potential, in the lead-up to BMG’s mining reserves development, recent peer-reviewed metallurgical testwork by Extreme Metallurgy shows Abercromby’s gold mineralisation to be free milling, with excellent gold recoveries between 93 and 95 per cent and it is amenable to traditional carbon-in-leach processing.
The Abercromby project also lies within an established mining and exploration area and is endowed with good infrastructure, including roads and grid power.
Following the company’s successful $1.5 million capital raise from sophisticated and institutional investors early last month, BMG is now fully-funded to complete its expansion drilling at Abercromby and to progress ongoing development studies.
The new drilling programs could be pivotal to BMG Resources’ future and the results of the work will be keenly anticipated.
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