Westgold Resources (ASX: WGX) has expanded the mineral resource for its underground Starlight mine by 41 per cent, bumping it up to 590,000 ounces of gold following a committed 18-month campaign at its Bryah project in Western Australia’s Murchison region.
It comes as a result of the company’s decision to engage three drill rigs at the site and management says it has now also established a 21 per cent increase in the higher-rated measured and indicated categories, which it will feed into ore reserve studies. The new data shows some 330,000 ounces of gold in those categories, with the measured 111,115 ounces clocking in at a notable grade of 4 grams per tonne.
The company believes the Waterbore zone within the Starlight mine is now emerging as a “new mining front” after it spat out headline intersections of 6.46m at 17.2g/t gold from 136.5m, 2.2m at 27.35g/t from 72.4m and 4.18m at 8.28g/t from 278.9m. It could well mean an extension to the Starlight life-of-mine.
The growth in Starlight and emergence of the Waterbore zone we see today is a function of good science and the investment Westgold made in drilling this mine over the last eighteen months. The same strategy is being deployed across our main operating assets such as Bluebird-South Junction, Big Bell and Great Fingall, extending these orebodies and mine lives.
Westgold Resources managing director Wayne Bramwell
The three drill rigs are still gnawing away at Starlight as the company continues with what it describes as “robust mine planning”. Management says it has also been able to deliver a 13 per cent increase on its budgeted free cash flow in the financial year to date.
Westgold’s 2023 mine reset at Starlight led to the implementation of an optimised mine plan and a commitment to additional resource drilling. It believes growth opportunities its drilling is unlocking by the relentless exploration at Nightfall and Waterbore shows there is plenty more gold to be found across Bryah.
The Starlight orebody has produced more than 800,000 gold ounces during its early history, with about 525,000 ounces produced by open pit and shallow underground operators at about 3.1g/t gold to a total depth of 260m before mining ceased in 2001.
Despite subsequently producing the remaining 275,000 gold ounces from the Starlight mine – and nearly 13,000 of them in the most recent financial quarter – Westgold’s drilling has still managed to establish plenty of upside for the operation.
The company reported in its March quarterly that it had grown its total cash and bullion holdings by $9 million to $247 million. It will now be interesting to keep watch on whether it can convert its resource growth to even bigger numbers on its balance sheet.
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