Ongoing Programme Expanding Golden Age Mine
Blackham Resources Limited(ASX: BLK) continues to grow its high-grade Golden Age underground mine located within the Wiluna Mining Centre in Western Australia, with an ongoing drilling campaign.
Executive Chair, Milan Jerkovic, said the programme, instigated in November 2019, aims to improve free-milling operations ahead of the company’s Stage 1 Expansion Plan which involves a transition to sulphide gold concentrate production.
Highlights from a further 17 holes for 2,947m drilled at Golden Age, which is drilling tests extension targets between the 850 and 600 levels, include: 3.8m @ 7.90g/tfrom 43.0m; 1.8m @ 39.68g/tfrom 47.3m; 2.6m @ 21.74g/tfrom 49.1m; 0.8m @ 22.80g/tfrom 55.0m; 1.2m @ 11.08g/tfrom 38.5m; 0.4m @ 12.10g/t from 52.6m; and 7.1m @ 7.47g/tfrom 185.9m, incl. 2.7m @ 17.32g/t
“While the company is focussed on optimising the mine plan around our large Wiluna sulphide resource and transitioning to gold concentrate production, these results also deliver on our parallel free-milling strategy,” Mr Jerkovic said.
“We aim to extend the high-grade Golden Age orebody to sustain or increase production and improve transitional cashflow over the next 12-18 months ahead of sulphides production from September 2021.
“In addition, we are drilling at the Williamson and Regent free-milling deposits, which have the potential to provide substantial baseload mill feed during the transition to, and potentially alongside, Stage 1 sulphides production.”
Mr Jerkovic said the company continues to extend the high-grade Golden Age orebody, which is a free-milling quartz-reef style of deposit located at the Wiluna Mining Centre, with the aim to sustain or increase production and improve cashflow over the next 12-18 months leading into the company’s Stage 1 sulphides production.
He said that extending free-milling Mineral Resources and conversion to Reserves is key to the Company’s 24-month, five-point strategy to:
1. Strengthen the balance sheet
2. Increase operational cash flow
3. Transition to include gold concentrate production
4. Expand production, and
5. Undertake exploration and feasibility studies to fully develop a more than 200kozpa, long life gold operation.
