OceanaGold Corporation (TSX: OGC) (ASX: OGC) has announced expansion to the high-grade mineral resources at its WKP (Wharekirauponga) prospect, located 10 km north of the Waihi Gold Mine in New Zealand.
Mick Wilkes, President and CEO of OceanaGold said WKP continues to excite the company with its potential.
“The high-grade WKP resource continues to grow, which further demonstrates the solid organic growth potential of our business particularly in New Zealand, a top-tier jurisdiction.
“WKP is a game-changing opportunity for our business, for our shareholders and for New Zealand.
OceanaGold has a long history of operating to the highest environmental and social standards for the past 30 years and we have demonstrated our ability as a responsible mining company to not only advance opportunities through to production but also rehabilitate and close operations in collaboration with our stakeholders.
“For the past year, we have been focused on resource definition drilling on the East Graben vein and associated footwall veins where significant high-grade intercepts were reported in November 2019.”
Mr Wilkes said the East Graben vein zone, including the proximal high-grade footwall veins, has demonstrated a strike length of at least 1,000 metres that is open in both directions along strike with a defined 200-metre vertical extent and additional up and down dip potential.
“The WKP opportunity is another key component of our Waihi District Study which is scheduled for completion in the second quarter of 2020. We will continue to drill at WKP this year with over 5,500 metres of drilling planned to include step-out drilling from two new sites.
“The Waihi District Study will include the resource of Martha Underground, WKP and other targets at a single future point in time however, exploration drilling will continue throughout this year and into future years to further grow the resource base.”
Oceana has appointed that WKP now has:
- Indicated Resources increase 80% to 1.0 million tonnes grading 13.4 g/t gold for 421,000 ounces and 25.5 g/t silver for 803,000 ounces on the East Graben vein.
- Inferred Resources increase 79% to 1.9 million tonnes grading 12 g/t gold for 717,000 ounces and 20 g/t silver for 1,230,000 ounces from the East Graben zone and T-Stream vein.
The reported resources at WKP are based on an additional 11,300 metres in 24 holes drilled since the previous estimate from March 2019. It is also based on a conceptual underground mine design and on preliminary work currently underway for the Waihi District Study.
The Indicated Resource relates entirely to mineralisation within the well drilled portions of the East Graben vein while the Inferred Resource is dominated by mineralisation contained within the East Graben vein and two significant high-grade footwall veins. These three structures contain more than 80% of the Inferred Resource while the remaining resource is from the East Graben hanging-wall veins and at the T Stream vein where there has been limited drilling to-date.
Two new drill sites were recently consented (permitted) and drilling has commenced to test the southwestern strike potential of the East Graben vein zone. The 5,500 metres of drilling planned for 2020 will continue to test both lateral and vertical extensions of the resources and drill test the strike extent potential of the T- Stream and Western Vein zones.
