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Ora Gold Limited (ASX: OAU, “Ora” or the “Company”) is pleased to report assay results from infill RC drilling at the Crown Prince Project (M51/886) part of Ora’s broader Garden Gully tenure (Figure 1).
Highlights
- Ora has received assays for a 7,500m, 66-hole infill RC drilling program at Crown Prince. This drilling was undertaken to better define mineralised lodes within the south eastern zone (SEZ) deposit to upgrade resource categories within a future conceptual open pit area.
- This drilling has returned some exceptional grades and intercepts including:
- 20m at 277g/t Au from 40m including 4m at 1,368g/t Au from 52m (OGGRC859)
- 15m at 14.7g/t Au from 152m (OGGRC872)
- 9m at 21.44g/t Au from 28m including 2m at 77.8g/t Au from 31m (OGGRC883)
- 7m at 11.74g/t Au from 132m (OGGRC874)
- 11m at 6.72g/t Au from 4m (OGGRC886)
- 12m at 6.05g/t Au from 76m including 4m at 10.2g/t Au from 80m (OGGRC895)
- 9m at 6.27g/ t Au from 66m including 1m at 18.6g/t Au from 66m (OGGRC888)
- 7m at 6.87g/ t Au from 133m (OGGRC864)
- New very high-grade zones have been encountered in the footwall of SEZ lodes which will likely improve grade and tonnage estimates in this area.
- This infill drilling has generally confirmed gold mineralisation modelling and has upgraded the quality in many areas.
Ora is continuing to progress Crown Prince towards development, targeting production commencement mid calendar year 2025. Among the several workstreams underway, including regulatory approvals, the Company has completed infill drilling ahead of releasing an ore reserve.
The program was designed to target zones of mineralisation within a conceptual pit design at Crown Prince that are currently in the inferred category of mineral resource (refer ASX release 20 February 2024). This drilling successfully confirmed mineralised zones and improved gold grades in some key areas.
Other improvements from this infill drilling include delineation of new near surface high grade zones and parallel lodes in new positions in the footwall and hanging wall of the south eastern zone (SEZ) mineralisation.
These zones are within the conceptual open pit for the Crown Prince deposit and are expected to add to the mineral resource and future mining inventory. Importantly, the grades returned in this infill drilling support existing published grades and may provide a foundation for an uplift in the average grade overall for the resource.
Assay results discussed in this announcement are shown in Appendix 1 & Figures 2-5. RC hole details are included in Table 1.
Alex Passmore Ora Gold’s CEO commented:
“We are very pleased to report these exceptionally high-grade results returned from recent infill drilling. The infill drilling was carried out successfully and has confirmed or improved the mineralisation model we have for Crown Prince.
Such high-grade headline results demonstrate the high quality nature of the Crown Prince Project and point to its likely strong economics during development and production.
We look forward to providing further information on the updated resource estimate in coming weeks and then to follow up with an ore reserve as work progresses.”
Figure 1. Ora Gold Regional Tenements - Crown Prince located 21km north of Meekatharra
Figure 2. Significant gold intercepts from recent infill RC holes at Crown Prince
Figure 3. Cross Section A-A’ at the western end of SEZ Mineralisation
Cross Section A-A’
Infill drilling at SEZ has confirmed new FW and HW lodes outside the current mineralisation wireframes, with outstanding high-grade intercepts Including: 20m @ 277.36g/t Au from 40m (incl: 4m @1368.11 g/t Au from 52m) in OGGRC859 and 35m @ 2.96 g/t Au from 173m In OGGRC873.
Extensions to the current mineralisation model along section A-A have been confirmed by intercepts in OGGRC862, 875 and 872 which include 7m @ 6.87 g/t Au from 133m in OGGRC864 and 15m @ 14.7 g/t Au from 152m (incl: 1m @ 177 Au from 153m).
New high-grade intercepts in OGGRC859, along with previous intercepts in OGGRC477 have highlighted additional mineralised zones close to surface in the footwall, which fall outside existing mineralisation wireframes.
OGGRC873 has strengthened the current interpretation that the high-grade shoots at the southwestern end remain wide and continuous at depth.
The SEZ host geology consists of a series of coarse-grained amphibole dolerites and minor high Mg basalts which grade into an intensely sheared unit proximal to mineralisation. Gold is associated with classic, extensional mesothermal style quartz lodes with characteristic Fe carbonate +/- fuchsite alteration, with high grade zones occurring with sulphide laminations and microstructures that crosscut the early-stage white buck veins.
Recent infill drilling has confirmed that the mineralisation system remains high grade down dip, highlighting potential for future underground mining.
Click here for the full ASX Release
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OAU:AU
OPINION — Goldenomics 103: Gold Protects and Performs
By Darren Brady Nelson
US President Donald Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs certainly caused quite the stir in the markets on April 2.
Gold dropped about 6 percent, and silver 12 percent. A week later, a pause was announced, which ended on August 1. Gold and silver have since risen approximately 11 percent and 24 percent, respectively.
Six month gold and silver price performance.
Source: Trading Economics (gold) and (silver).
Unless you are a professional, or even amateur, trader, it is best to look at gold and silver investment with a perspective of years or decades, rather than just days, weeks or even months. Since the start of the COVID-19 panic in March 2020, gold and silver have exploded 123 percent and 192 percent.
10 year gold and silver price performance.
Source: Trading Economics (gold) and (silver).
In the shorter term, the gold price is driven by what economist John Maynard Keynes called “animal spirits.” In the longer term, it is driven by “monetary spirits.” And not just as protection, but also for performance. The Presidential Gold Guide highlights both in chapters four and five.
Source: Fisher Liberty Gold.
Gold unsurprisingly protects
Economist and investor Mark Skousen has wisely noted that: “Since we left the gold standard in 1971, both gold and silver have become superior inflation hedges.” Gold has more than countered the results of inflation, as measured by CPI, and the drivers of inflation, as measured by M3.
And the numbers back that up. The Gold Protects chart below compares the gold price, CPI and M3 in terms of cumulative growth of each from 1971 to 2025. That is throughout the whole era of gold as an investment, which officially started in 1974 once private ownership was restored.
During this era, gold grew by 541 percent, CPI by 214 percent and M3 by 384 percent. Annual average growth for gold was 10 percent, CPI at 4 percent and M3 at 7 percent. Maximums were 92 percent, 14 percent and 29 percent, respectively. CPI only failed to grow twice, ie. 0 percent in 2009 and 2015. M3 decreased twice, by -4 percent in 2023 and -6 percent in 2024.
Gold surprisingly performs
The highly respected In Gold We Trust (IGWT) report states: “When dealing with the specific level of gold allocation, it is advisable to differentiate between safe-haven gold and performance gold. The Big Long strategy emphasizes the potential of performance gold in the coming years.”
IGWT thus recommends an investment portfolio "rule of thumb" that includes 15 percent in “safe-haven gold” and 10 percent in “performance gold.” The Gold Performs chart below compares gold price, S&P 500 and nominal GDP in terms of cumulative growth of each from 1971 to 2025.
Gold grew by 541 percent, the S&P 500 by 484 percent and GDP by 339 percent. Annual average growth for gold was 10 percent, with the S&P 500 at 9 percent and GDP at 6 percent. Maximums were 92 percent, 45 percent and 14 percent, respectively. Gold did have a higher standard deviation of 27 percent, compared to 17 percent for the S&P 500 and 3 percent for GDP.
Animal and monetary spirits
Gold protects as a hedge or safe haven, not just from inflation, but from the flip side of that same coin of the boom-bust cycle. Both are driven, in the longer term, not by “animal spirits,” but by “monetary spirits.”
Inflation is when money inflation has a widespread impact as price inflation. A bubble is when money increases have a more concentrated impact such as in certain asset values. The bubble eventually bursts when “monetary spirits” are finally reined in by monetary realities.
I say “monetary spirits” because of the role of fiat money, as indicated by, say, M3. When money supply outstrips money demand in a localized way, then that is a bubble, and when in a general way, that is inflation.
The former shows up in certain asset, wholesale and/or producer prices, whilst the latter shows up in CPI. Asset prices include the S&P 500. But nominal GDP is also "ginned up" as it is ultimately a price times quantity measure as well. Price is expressed in money terms.
Conclusion
Gold can have ups and downs, as standard deviation indicates, due to the “animal spirits” of fear and uncertainty, that tend to be daily, weekly or monthly. Yet gold both protects and performs due to the “monetary spirits” of inflation and boom-bust, which tend to be decennially.
In particular, gold performs when the S&P 500 does not, like in the aftermaths of the 2001/2002 dot-com collapse, the 2008/2009 global financial crisis and 2020/2021 COVID-19 lockdowns.
Therefore, when it comes to gold, “follow the money” of central bank “money printing” and fractional reserve bank “fountain pen money,” for both superior inflation protection and boom-bust performance.
And besides, Skousen rightly "begged the question" as follows: “Gold and Silver have always had value, never gone to zero. Can you say the same for stocks and bonds?”
About Darren Brady Nelson
Darren Brady Nelson is chief economist with Fisher Liberty Gold and policy advisor to The Heartland Institute. He previously was economic advisor to Australian Senator Malcolm Roberts. He authored the Ten Principles of Regulation and Reform, and the CPI-X approach to budget cuts.
Click here to read Goldenomics 101: Follow the Money, and here to read Goldenomics 102: The Shadow Price of Gold.
