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Astral Resources NL (ASX: AAR)(Astral or the Company) is pleased to report assay results from recently completed in-fill and extensional RC drilling at the Hestia Deposit, part of the 100%-owned Mandilla Gold Project (Mandilla or MGP), located approximately 70km south of Kalgoorlie in Western Australia (Figure 1).
- High-grade reverse circulation (RC) drill results returned from the Hestia Deposit at the Mandilla Gold Project, with best results outside of the current Mineral Resource Estimate (MRE) including:
- 10m at 6.35g/t Au from 133m in MDRC698;
- 6m at 6.07g/t Au from 85m and 6m at 1.85g/t Au from 103m in MDRC694;
- 5m at 1.97g/t Au from 44m and 8m at 3.61g/t Au from 95m in MDRC690;
- 9m at 3.21g/t Au from 192m in MDRC688;
- 6m at 3.02g/t Au from 97m in MDRC672;
- 3m at 5.20g/t Au from 176m in MDRC676;
- 2m at 5.47g/t Au from 52m in MDRC693;
- 4m at 2.64g/t Au from 129m in MDRC687; and
- 9m at 2.11g/t Au from 44m in MDRC689.
- Approximately 6,000 metres of new RC and diamond resource drilling has been completed at Theia to 4 April, with drilling ongoing.
- At the Feysville Gold Project’s Kamperman Prospect, a single diamond drill (DD) hole intersected a broad high-grade zone of 10m at 4.57g/t Au from 148m in FRCD208. This intersection is situated on a previously-untested sheared ultramafic/dacitic porphyry contact.
RC drilling confirms a high-grade gold zone extending over 300 metres beyond the current Mineral Resource at the Hestia deposit; Diamond drilling at Feysville intersects a broad, high-grade zone at Kamperman.
Astral Resources’ Managing Director Marc Ducler said: “The results from the Hestia in- fill and extensional drill programs have provided the team with confidence that the next update to the Hestia MRE will deliver a significant increase both in terms of ounces and grade.
“Recent diamond drilling completed at Theia this year also appears encouraging from visual inspection and, with assay results for this drilling pending, additional DD holes have been added to the program to both upgrade the resource classification and potentially identify additional gold mineralisation at depth below current resource limits.
“Ourfocusfor2023is to increase the resource base to a critical mass that will support a robust standalone mine development at Mandilla. The results from Hestia are strongly supportive of this aim.
“It is anticipated that Feysville will represent a satellite ore source for Mandilla with new high-grade assay results from the Kamperman Prospect providing further encouragement.
“Astral has completed over 14,741 metres of drilling at Mandilla in our 2023 programs, with RC and diamond drilling continuing in support of our commitment to resource growth and continual improvement of the project quality.
“Assay results from the ongoing drilling at Theia are expected to be announced in the coming weeks.
“Against the backdrop of a strong gold price and improving investor sentiment in the gold sector, a positive period ahead for Astral is anticipated.”
In addition, high-grade results have also been returned from diamond drilling at the Kamperman Prospect, part of the 100%-owned Feysville Gold Project (Feysville or FGP), located 50km north of Mandilla.
Figure 1 – Mandilla and Feysville Gold Projects location map.
MANDILLA GOLD PROJECT
The Mandilla Gold Project includes the Theia, Iris, Eos and Hestia deposits.
In December 2022, Astral announced an updated MRE of 30Mt at 1.1 g/t Au for 1.03Moz of contained gold1for the Mandilla Gold Project.
Gold mineralisation at Theia and Iris is comprised of structurally controlled quartz vein arrays and hydrothermal alteration close to the western margin of the Emu Rocks Granite and locally in contact with sediments of the Spargoville Group (Figure 2).
Significant NW to WNW-trending structures along the western flank of the project are interpreted from aeromagnetic data to cut through the granitic intrusion. These structures are considered important in localising gold mineralisation at Theia, which now has a mineralised footprint extending over a strike length of more than 1.5km.
A second sub-parallel structure hosts gold mineralisation at the Iris deposit. The mineralised footprint at Iris extends over a strike length of approximately 700 metres, combining with Theia to form a mineralised zone extending over a strike length of more than 2.2 kilometres.
At Eos, located further to the south-east, a relatively shallow high-grade mineralised palaeochannel deposit has been identified.
Mineralisation over approximately 800 metres of strike at the Hestia deposit, located approximately 500 metres west of Theia, is associated with a shear zone, adjacent to a mafic/sediment contact, interpreted to be part of the major north-south trending group of thrust faults known as the Spargoville Shear Corridor. The mineralisation at Hestia, which is present in a different geological setting to the primary mineralisation at Theia and Iris, remains open both down-dip and along strike.
Locally, the Spargoville Shear Corridor hosts the historically mined Wattle Dam gold mine (266koz at 10.6g/t Au) and, further to the north, the Ghost Crab/Mt Marion mine (>1Moz).
Recent metallurgical testing2on the Theia Deposit by the Company, has demonstrated, high gravity recoverable gold, fast leach kinetics and exceptional overall gold recoveries with low reagent consumptions and coarse grinding.
Mandilla is covered by existing Mining Leases which are not subject to any third-party royalties other than the standard WA Government gold royalty.
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This article includes content from Astral Resources, licensed for the purpose of publishing on Investing News Australia. This article does not constitute financial product advice. It is your responsibility to perform proper due diligence before acting upon any information provided here. Please refer to our full disclaimer here.
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Astral Resources
Overview
Astral Resources (ASX:AAR) is a gold mineral exploration company with three gold projects in tier 1 mining jurisdictions of Western Australia. The three assets are the Mandilla gold project, the Feysville gold project, and the Carnilya Hill gold project. The flagship and 100 percent owned Mandilla gold project has a mineral resource containing 1.27 million ounces (Moz) of contained gold. The other key project, 100 percent owned Feysville, hosts a mineral resource estimate of 3 million tons (Mt) at 1.3 grams per ton (g/t) gold for 116,000 ounces (oz) of contained gold. Feysville could potentially become a satellite source of high-grade ore feed for the flagship Mandilla gold project.
The scoping study completed at Mandilla unveils robust project economics. The cornerstone of the scoping study is the Theia deposit, which alone accounts for 81 percent of the total Mandilla mineral resource estimate. The deposit hosts a mineral resource estimate of 29 Mt at 1.1 g/t gold for 1.02 Moz of contained gold in one large open pit. The scoping study indicates a mine life of 11 years with an annual production of 100,000 oz in the first seven and a half years, dropping to 41,000 oz for the remaining three and a half years. The study outlines compelling financial metrics, including NPV@8 percent of AU$442 million, free cash flow of AU$740 million, and a payback period of nine months.
Astral Resources intends to increase production further. The assay results from the six-hole 1,832-metre drilling program completed at Theia deposit last year indicate a high potential for converting inferred resources to higher confidence indicated resources. Feysville presents another exciting opportunity, which is evident from the recent assay results at the Kamperman prospect. In 2023, Astral drilled 10 holes at Kamperman intersecting high-grade gold, including 4 metres at 94.8 g/t gold, 21 metres at 4.16 g/t gold, 35 metres at 2.19 g/t gold, 10 metres at 4.57 g/t gold, and 5 metres at 5.89 g/t gold.
The presence in Western Australia, a tier 1 mining jurisdiction, is encouraging and should comfort investors. Western Australia has world-class infrastructure and a skilled workforce. The Fraser Institute ranked it fourth globally and first in Australia as the most attractive jurisdiction for mining investment in 2023.
Astral benefits from a team of professionals boasting extensive expertise in geology and mining. The company is led by managing director Marc Ducler, who has more than two decades of experience in the mining industry. The management team has a proven track record of executing several successful exploration and development projects, as well as M&A.
Company Highlights
- Astral Resources is an ASX-listed gold exploration company in the Kalgoorlie region of Western Australia, a tier 1 jurisdiction and a mature mining region with successful development history and granted mining leases.
- The company has three assets - the Mandilla gold project, the Feysville gold project, and the Carnilya Hill gold exploration project.
- The focus is on advancing its flagship Mandilla gold project, with a mineral resource estimate of 37 Mt at 1.1 g/t gold for 1.27 Moz.
- The scoping study at Mandilla highlights the project’s robust economics with a mine life of 11 years, NPV@8 percent of AU$442 million, and free cash flow of AU$740 million.
- Mandilla’s cornerstone Theia deposit, which comprises 81 percent of the project’s resources, contains 29 Mt at 1.1 g/t gold, with 1.02 Moz of contained gold in one large open pit.
- Feysville project hosts a mineral resource estimate of 3 Mt at 1.3g/t gold for 116 koz of contained gold. The project could potentially become a source of satellite ore feed to Astral’s flagship Mandilla gold project.
- The company is led by an experienced team with a proven track record of advancing projects to development and M&A.
Key Projects
Mandilla Gold Project
The Mandilla gold project is located within the northern region of the Widgiemooltha greenstone belt, approximately 70 kilometers to the south of the prominent mining hub of Kalgoorlie, Western Australia. Mandilla includes four deposits namely, Theia, Iris, Eos and Hestia. The cornerstone of the project is the Theia deposit, constituting 81 percent of Mandilla's resources, totaling 29 Mt at a grade of 1.1 g/t gold, amounting to 1.02 Moz of contained gold in a single open pit. We note that Mandilla has a total mineral resource estimate of 37 Mt at 1.1 g/t gold for 1.27 Moz.
The scoping study indicates a mine life of 11 years with an annual production of 100,000 oz in the first seven and a half years, dropping to 41,000 oz for the remaining three and a half years. Astral estimates the pre-production capital spend at AU$191 million, and the project is anticipated to generate a free cash flow of AU$740 million (assuming a gold price of A$2,750/oz). The project’s NPV @8 percent is estimated at AU$442 million, and the IRR at 73 percent.
Drill collars at Theia deposit
Astral continues to advance exploration and resource expansion efforts at Mandilla. The company completed a six-hole 1,832 metre drilling program at Theia deposit last year. The assay results have been released and indicate a high potential for the conversion of inferred resources to higher confidence indicated resources. The assay results include: 39 metres at 5.4 g/t gold, 29 metres at 2.8 g/t gold, 28 metres at 1.4 g/t gold, 8 metres at 8.8 g/t gold.
Astral is planning to commence a pre-feasibility study at Mandilla.
Feysville Gold Project
The Feysville project is situated in Australia's premier gold belt, merely 14 km south of the Golden Mile deposit, which boasts 70 million ounces, located in Kalgoorlie. The project has a mineral resource estimate of 3 Mt at 1.3 g/t Au for 116,000 oz of contained gold. The project could potentially become a source of satellite ore feed to Astral’s flagship Mandilla gold project.
At Feysville, Astral is focusing on the high-grade Kamperman prospect. A recent 19-hole 2,459 reverse circulation (RC) drilling program at Kamperman returned encouraging assay results. The latest drilling program yielded significant assay results in 14 out of 19 RC holes. This high success rate continues to indicate that Kamperman has the potential to be a substantial source of high-grade satellite ore for the Mandilla processing plant. A further 2,500-metre follow-up RC program is planned to extend known mineralization at Kamperman beyond the current 350-metre strike length.
Carnilya Gold Project
The Carnilya Hill gold project is situated about 20 kilometers south-southeast of the company's Feysville project and approximately 40 kilometers southeast of Kalgoorlie, Western Australia. The project encompasses various tenements – M26/047-049, M26/453 – spanning approximately 2.65 sq. km. Astral holds rights for gold mining, while Mincor Resources NL (ASX:MCR) holds rights to nickel and other minerals.Management Team
Mark Connelly – Non-executive Chairman
Mark Connelly is a mining industry veteran who has held positions of CEO and managing director with several multinational companies across many jurisdictions, including Australia, North America, South America, Africa and Europe. He has a proven track record in deal making and was principally responsible for the merger of Papillon Resources and B2 Gold Corp in October 2014 (value US$570 million), as well as the key person responsible for the merger of Adamus Resources and Endeavour Mining for US$579 million. He is currently the non-executive chair of Calidus Resources, Omnia Metals Group, Alto Metals, Warriedar Resources and Nickel Search.
Marc Ducler – Managing Director
Marc Ducler has more than 20 years of experience in the mining industry. He has held senior operational management roles with GoldFields, BHP, Fortescue Metals, MRL and Roy Hill. He was also the managing director of Egan Street Resources (a gold exploration and development company) until it was acquired by Silver Lake Resources (ASX:SLR).
Peter Stern – Non-executive Director
Peter Stern has experience in corporate advisory, specializing in M&A and capital raising. He has spent six years with Macquarie Bank and three years with UBS and Deutsche Bank. He is a graduate of Monash University with a Bachelor of Science (geology major). Stern is a fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and the chairman of Troy Resources.
David Varcoe – Non-executive Director
David Varcoe is a mining engineer with over three decades of experience. He has extensive operational and managerial experience across various commodities, including gold, iron ore, copper, diamonds, coal, uranium and rare earths. His expertise spans board positions, operations management, project management and consulting. Varcoe is a principal consultant with the leading Australian firm AMC Consulting.
Justin Osborne – Non-executive Director
Justin Osborne is a geologist with over 30 years of experience in exploration. He was previously the executive director at Gold Road Resources (ASX:GOR), where he played a crucial role in developing the world-class Gruyere gold deposit (6.6 Moz gold). Osborne also held senior positions on the exploration executive team at Gold Fields. He was instrumental in developing the Damang Superpit project in Ghana and achieved significant discovery success at the St Ives gold mine.
Brendon Morton – Chief Financial Officer & Company Secretary
Brendon Morton has over 20 years of experience, particularly in the global resources sector across Australia, Africa and Asia. He has held several executive financial and company secretarial roles with ASX-listed and unlisted companies in the resources industry.
Jed Whitford – General Manager Business Development and Projects
Jed Whitford is a mining engineer with over 20 years of industry experience. His expertise primarily encompasses gold and base metals operations, having worked with companies such as Western Mining, Gold Fields, Golder Associates, Xstrata and Glencore.
Julie Reid – Geology Manager
Julie Reid has 36 years of experience working across Australia, Vietnam and Indonesia, covering a variety of commodities in diverse geological terrains. She holds a Bachelor of Applied Science from Curtin University of Technology.
Unconformity Uranium Drill Targets Identified from 2024 Geophysical Data
Key Highlights
- Final data received and interpretation completed for the ground electromagnetic geophysical surveys from the winter 2024 program at the Marshall and North Millennium projects.
- Several conductive anomalies identified at Marshall, located above and below the unconformity, consistent with regional exploration model.
- Stacked anomalies concurrently with multigenerational geophysical data provides a base to assess the exploration targets and refine drillhole targets.
- The projects are located 15 kilometres from the majority Cameco owned Millennium deposit, and just 40km from the world class McArthur River mine.
- Basin remains funded for the next round of field exploration.
The ground electromagnetic successfully identified 3 main targets which confirms the geological and exploration model. Of note is Target 1 (Figure 1), where modelled EM plates below the unconformity align with a sandstone ZTEM anomaly, which is interpreted to be alteration within sandstone. The identification of these targets is encouraging and consistent with regional trends in the southeastern Athabasca and provides increased confidence in drill hole targeting. Basin is currently reviewing options and priorities of how to progress exploration of these confirmed targets.
Basin’s Managing Director, Pete Moorhouse, commented:
“Conducting ground geophysical surveys on Marshall and North Millennium was a milestone in advancing these underexplored projects in Basin’s uranium portfolio. The form of these anomalies is highly encouraging given the proximity to some of the world’s largest uranium deposits.”
Key results
Following the encouraging conductive anomalism highlighted by the 2023 3D inversion of two historic airborne Electromagnetics (Z‐Tipper Axis) (“ZTEM”) datasets partially covering the current North Millennium and Marshall projects3,4, Basin contracted Discovery International Geophysics5 to carry out ground Stepwise Moving Loop Transient Electromagnetic (‘Ground EM’) surveys on areas of immediate interest within the Projects.
Figure 1 Three main anomalies shown from 2024 ground EM, in plan view (top diagrams) and cross- section looking northeast (bottom diagram). The ground EM anomalies are displayed with the modelled plates against the historical ZTEM data.
The 2024 Ground EM survey data returned six conductive anomaly picks producing three main target areas (Figure 1). The anomalies correlate strongly with the southern edge of the circular ZTEM conductive anomaly at Marshall and the interpreted northern edge of the circular anomaly identified in the historic data. A weaker EM pick was also interpreted centred between the two prominent ZTEM conductivity anomalies.
Three-dimensional modelling using Maxwell produced six electromagnetic conductive plates within the basement stratigraphy, all below the unconformity (Figure 1). The two southeastern plates are clearly aligning with a conductive sandstone ZTEM anomaly identified from the historic data, which is above the interpreted unconformity. This is interpreted as potential basal sandstone alteration proximal to the EM anomalies and constitutes a high-priority drill target area, refer figure 2.
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This article includes content from Basin Energy, licensed for the purpose of publishing on Investing News Australia. This article does not constitute financial product advice. It is your responsibility to perform proper due diligence before acting upon any information provided here. Please refer to our full disclaimer here.
Airborne EM over Multiple Targets on Ti-Tree Project
- Augustus Minerals has contracted UTS Geophysics to conduct a VTEM Max survey over several Copper, Cu-Ni-PGE, Zn-Pb-Ag and Uranium targets along the money Intrusion and within proximity of the prospective 85k long Ti-Tree Shear.
- The surveys will cover:
- The Money Intrusion, prospective for Cu-Ni-PGE mineralisation.
- Copper Ridge and Nics Bore over anomalous Copper Drilling results
- The Coo Creek prospect where drilling by Augustus in 2023 identified strongly anomalous Zn-Pb-Ag mineralisation.
- The Munaballya Well North area which shows potential for economic Uranium mineralisation.
- The surveys will help to advance the untapped potential of the Ti-Tree project to host economic mineralisation of multiple commodities.
Andrew Ford, GM Exploration
“The VTEM survey will provide key targeting data over three highly prospective and different prospects with potential for multiple commodities. Whilst the high prospectivity for copper mineralisation has been well documented, the addition of uranium and Broken Hill base metal style mineralisation highlights the quality of the underexplored Ti-Tree project”.
VTEM
UTS Geophysics has been engaged to conduct a helicopter borne VTEM Max survey comprising 646-line km over three separate survey areas. The system is excellent for locating discrete conductive anomalies as well as mapping lateral and vertical variations in resistivity which helps map structure, alteration and rock type. The system also collects magnetic data through a caesium magnetometer. The transmitter/receiver loop is suspended on a cable approximately 40m below the helicopter (Figure 1).
Figure 1 VTEM Max helicopter deployed electromagnetic survey arrangement.
Figure 2 Prospects and VTEM Survey areas.
Money Intrusion
The Money Intrusion, which has proven potential to host Ni-Cu-Co-PGE (platinum group elements), is part of the regional Mundine Well Dolerite Suite, a regionally extensive dolerite (strike length >80km). This extensive mafic intrusion, which is comprised of a variety of lithologies, including gabbro in the core, olivine dolerite on the chilled lower contact or keel and fine-grained dolerite on the outer edges. Mapping, aeromagnetics and multi-spectral imagery show that the Money Intrusion within the Ti-Tree Project covers a strike length greater than 16km, reaching widths >600m in the north of E09/23241.
Click here for the full ASX Release
This article includes content from Augustus Minerals, licensed for the purpose of publishing on Investing News Australia. This article does not constitute financial product advice. It is your responsibility to perform proper due diligence before acting upon any information provided here. Please refer to our full disclaimer here.
Astral Resources Investor Kit
- Corporate info
- Insights
- Growth strategies
- Upcoming projects