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Magnetic Resources NL (ASX:MAU) (Magnetic or the Company) has announced Increased Lady Julie Gold Project Resource and Project Update.
HIGHLIGHTS
- Magnetic Resources is pleased to provide an update to its flagship Lady Julie Gold Project (LJGP), an exciting new gold development currently in an advanced Feasibility stage. The project is located near Laverton in WA and will comprise three open pits, a CIL processing plant and all associated infrastructure.
- Recent deeper infill drilling at Lady Julie North 4 (LJN4) has significantly increased resource confidence and continuity of mineralisation, whilst also expanding gold inventory (relative to the July 2024 ASX update). This will assist in building a substantial future mining reserve.
- The updated Combined Mineral Resources Estimate (Table 1) for LJGP:
- 28.11 Mt at 1.93g/t Au containing 1.75Moz of gold at 0.5/1.5g/t cutoffs1.
- 75% of the combined resource is now in Indicated category (previously 68%).
- The updated Combined Laverton Region Mineral Resource Estimate (Table 1):
- 33.14 Mt at 1.81g/t Au containing 1.93Moz of gold at 0.5/1.5g/t cutoffs1.
Table 1 Project Mineral Inventory
- On the basis of the strong resource development below the planned open pit, a scoping exercise has been completed to study the potential for operating an underground mine concurrently with the open pit. The study found that a concurrent underground operation producing 550,000tpa of higher-grade ore would add significantly to project value, with total output of 150,000oz pa over an 8-year project life. Commencement of underground access development would be scheduled for year two to minimize the potential for disruption of the main part of the project. More detailed design of access, stoping and fill systems will commence in late January 2025.
- As a result of this scoping exercise, the processing plant design capacity is being boosted to 2.75Mtpa to treat a combined open pit/underground feed. A key change with the scale increase will be in comminution where a ball/SAG mill circuit is now proposed in place of multistage crushing/ball mill. The plant design and costing will be completed in early February.
- Metallurgical testwork is continuing to optimize the treatment process with differing lithology units.
- A Mining Proposal has been submitted to DEMIRS for approval. The proposal is in support of the application for two new Mining leases and a new Miscellaneous lease covering the remainder of the project footprint (see Figure 1). The combined project area of 1,424Ha is now under application.
- With some late changes to the Feasibility Study, the aim remains to complete the Study by the end Q1 2025.
Note 1:
The cutoff grade is considered appropriate for a large-scale open pit operation and in the case of LJN4, is applied to a depth of 400m below surface. It should be noted that the pit resource does not consider any restraining factors which may influence the final pit design in the feasibility study.
The mineralisation deeper than 400m below surface shows strong continuity and therefore is amenable to underground mining. On the basis of a gold price of A$3600/oz and economic modelling of an underground operation, a cutoff grade of 1.5g/t Au is considered appropriate and has been applied to this portion of the model. As above, constraints applied to a pit design at Feasibility may lead to an increase in the resource available for underground extraction.
The verification and reporting of Mineral Resources on behalf of the Company was completed by its JORC Competent Person, Mr. M Edwards of Blue Cap Mining. The Mineral Resources Estimate has been prepared and reported in accordance with the 2012 Edition of the JORC Code.
Managing Director George Sakalidis commented:
“The LJN4 resource has been the Company’s primary drilling focus over recent months with the completion of infill drilling and some extension drilling at depth in the northern part of LJN4, which consists of thick strongly altered zones mainly associated with intensely fuchsite altered ultramafic rock types.
Two deeper holes are being planned testing for deeper extensions of the main ultramafic-hosted lodes, which are still open at depth and one deeper hole beneath the southern breccia- silica-pyrite lode. The LJN4 deposit sits within a regional structure called the Chatterbox Shear Zone that extends over 12km in length within the Magnetic tenements and remains as a prospective target zone where RC drilling has been recently completed.
The Lady Julie Gold Project Pre-Feasibility Study was released to the ASX on 7 March 2024. The project now envisaged and advanced planning is at a scale to provide more credibility to the wider industry and offer more substantial value to shareholders.
Most of the background work has now been completed to take this to feasibility study level of accuracy. The submission of a Mining Proposal and application for Mining Leases are key steps in the regulatory approval process.”
Click here for the full ASX Release
This article includes content from Magnetic Resources NL, 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.
MAU:AU
Magnetic Resources NL
Overview
Magnetic Resources (ASX:MAU) is an Australian company, developing a portfolio of significant gold projects in the established mining province, Laverton region, in Western Australia.
The company owns a 100-percent interest in the Hawks Nest and Lady Julie projects in Laverton, the Homeward Bound South project in Leonora, and the Benjabbering project in Julimar. The main deposits include Hawks Nest 9 (HN9), Lady Julie Central (LJC), Lady Julie North 4 (LJN4), Mount Jumbo and Homeward Bound South, which are all located in an area with well-endowed regional infrastructure, including three processing plants within 10 to 35 kilometres. These plants are owned by well-known operators including Goldfields Genesis/Dacian; Anglo-Ashanti; and Genesis/Dacian.
The projects’ proximity to these existing processing facilities gives enough options to MAU for toll processing without having to invest millions of dollars in constructing its own processing plant.
Several large deposits such as Wallaby, Sunrise Dam and Jupiter Gold are in this jurisdiction. The company’s projects are adjacent to some of these world-class deposits. The Mt Jumbo and Hawks Nest tenements are only 15 kilometres north of the Wallaby deposit. At both HN9 and Lady Julie, Magnetic Resources had identified multiple thickened stacked lodes near-surface, which have some similarities to Wallaby and Sunrise Dam.
LJN4, a key focus for the Laverton project, hosts thick breccia and silica pyrite zones up to 50 metres thick, which are also prevalent in Anglo Ashanti’s world-class Sunrise Dam deposit, both parallel to near-surface breccia zones and vertical mineralization going downwards into several of their deposits. The Mau breccia zones often carry higher grades and are now being extended by new drilling at depth and further to the east and northeast, potentially growing the LJN4 resource.
In November 2023, the company announced a significant increase in the mineral resource estimates. The deposits in the Laverton and Homeward Bound area have seen a significant 107-percent increase over the last report in February 2023. The updated combined mineral resources estimate for the whole project area stands at 22.7 million tonnes (Mt) @ 1.69 grams per ton (g/t) gold totaling 1.24 million ounces (Moz) of gold at 0.5 g/t cutoff.
LJN4 is now, by far, the largest resource in the project area, as its contained gold rose from 204,000 oz to 852,000 oz, a 317-percent increase. Extension drilling continues and is expected to result in further resource increases.
The significance of LJN4’s gold resource has not gone unnoticed, as research firm Argonaut has called it a ‘sleeping giant,’ noting recent drilling at LJN4 “indicates a significant discovery unfolding in the Laverton region.” If MAU can replicate the recent drilling intercepts, the next resource update at LNJ4 could easily make it a 1-Moz deposit. This will position LJN4 as one of the best undeveloped gold assets in the Laverton region.
Company Highlights
- Magnetic Resources (MAU) is an Australian company focused on gold development projects in Western Australia.
- The company owns a 100-percent-interest in the Hawks Nest and Lady Julie projects in Laverton, the Homeward Bound South project in Leonora, and the Benjabbering project in Julimar.
- MAU’s large tenement positions in the Leonora and Laverton districts of Western Australia, are near numerous large deposits with existing mining operations and good infrastructure.
- The presence of three processing plants close to MAU’s Laverton deposits provides scope for toll processing.
- In November 2023, the company announced a 107-percent increase in the resource estimate for Laverton and Homeward Bound South deposits. The revised resource stands at 22.7 Mt @ 1.69 g/t gold totaling 1.24 Moz of gold at 0.5 g/t cutoff.
- For the Laverton project deposits - Lady Julie North 4,Lady Julie Central and Hawks Nest 9 - early work programs, including project environmental, heritage and technical background studies, are close to completion. The aim is to submit a mining proposal in January 2024.
- In October 2023, the company announced the completion of a AU$4.8-million private placement. The company is now fully funded with AU$7 million cash to aggressively advance to the next stage of development.
- The company’s highly experienced senior leadership team has a proven track record to capitalize on the high resource potential of its projects.
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An Exciting Gold Development Play in Western Australia
High-Grade Gold Confirmed at Bronzewing South
- Partial results received from the diamond tail of drill-hole BWSRC081 with the visible gold zone returning 15.5g/t Au over 0.48m from 416.5m. This high- grade zone is reported within a broader intercept of:
- 8.95m at 1.32g/t Au from 414m, including:
- 0.48m at 15.5g/t Au from 416.5m; and
- 0.55m at 3.52g/t Au from 422.4m.
- 8.95m at 1.32g/t Au from 414m, including:
- Follow-up drilling along strike from these intercepts is scheduled to commence in the coming days to define the extent of the south-trending zone of gold mineralisation with a diamond tail of drill-hole BWSRCD086.
- Drill results indicate the inadequacy of historical air-core drill testing with a significant search space now open on the boundary with the historical Bronzewing Mining Lease.
- Diamond drilling at the Central Target, located ~1.7km to the south of the Eastern Target and within the same structural corridor, has encountered zones of intense locally massive quartz veining associated with brecciation below historical Hammer gold drilling anomalies of:
- 20m at 1.5g/t Au from 120m in drill-hole BWSRC0037, including:
- 8m at 2.4g/t Au from 120m; and
- 4m at 3.9g/t Au from 120m.1
- 20m at 1.5g/t Au from 120m in drill-hole BWSRC0037, including:
- Assay results from the remaining program will be progressively released in the coming weeks.
Figure 1. Photo of massive quartz carbonate veining intersected in drill-hole BWSRCD082 diamond tail at Hammer’s Central Target Zone (213m to 221.5m).
Hammer’s Managing Director, Daniel Thomas, said:
“The confirmation of high-grade gold mineralisation at Bronzewing South is a significant step in our search for an economically viable gold target at our Yandal Gold Project. High-grade mineralisation can be traced with multiple intercepts to the north of our project area, with the mineralised structure interpreted to extend for hundreds of metres.
“We will now look to test this structure approximately 100m further south on our project area. We are very much looking forward to follow-up drilling at the Eastern Target, as we enter a zone without any previous drilling coverage.
“The team is encouraged by the observations in recent drilling at the Central Target and the potential for this corridor to be connected to the Eastern Target drilling some 1.7km to the north. This corridor is largely untested below the ineffectual air-core drilling and, with a prominent shear zone interpreted to connect these targets, it is of high interest to the team in our search for a significant gold discovery.”
Figure 2. Plan view of the Bronzewing South tenement EPM36/854, showing Bronzewing orebodies on Northern Star Resources mining lease, historical Hammer RC drilling intercepts and the structural corridor of interest containing Hammer’s Central and Eastern Target Zones (refer to ASX announcement 9 November 2020).
Click here for the full ASX Release
This article includes content from Hammer Metals, 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.
