Hits Gold And Silver In Latest WKP Campaign
OceanaGold Corporation (TSX: OGC) (ASX: OGC) has drilled several additional significant intersections of high-grade gold and silver mineralisation at the Company’s WKP (Wharekirauponga) prospect in New Zealand.
Significant Intersections (true widths)
- 22.8 g/t Au and 39.0 g/t Ag over 48.9 metres
- 169.0 g/t Au and 164.2 g/t Ag over 3.1 metres
- 45.6 g/t Au and 81.5 g/t Ag over 2.2 metres
- 41.4 g/t Au and 81.6 g/t Ag over 9.0 metres
- 52.2 g/t Au and 28.8 g/t Ag over 3.6 metres
President and CEO, Michael Holmes, said the results are significant for the company, the project and the country.
“The drill results at WKP continue to demonstrate the significance of this discovery for OceanaGold, our shareholders and for New Zealand,” Mr Holmes said.
“Much of the drilling to date has focused on the East Graben vein, which represents nearly all the reported resources and this vein is only one of three currently identified major mineralised structures at WKP.
“Drilling along the East Graben vein zone has defined in excess of 1,000 metres strike that includes multiple, discrete, high-grade gold-silver bearing hanging and footwall veins.
“For 2021, our plan includes extensive drilling with two drill rigs, balanced between infill drilling of the East Graben vein zone and testing extensions of the East Graben vein and nearby T-Stream and Western veins, which are the other two major structures currently identified at WKP.
“Our next mineral Resource update for WKP is expected in mid-2021 and will include the drill results from 2020 campaign.
“We are advancing the Waihi District opportunities concurrent to finalising the consent application for underground access to WKP. The consenting process remains the critical path for success and we continue to work with all stakeholders as we advance the Waihi District to production in concert with our values as a responsible mining company.
“The Waihi District represents the potential for significant socio-economic contributions for the rural communities in the Coromandel region and for New Zealand. The economic benefits, we believe, will play a critical role in the post-COVID-19 economic recovery for New Zealand as we have estimated A$1.4 billion of in-country investments and the addition of 300 new jobs to our existing 900-person countrywide workforce.
“OceanaGold is one of the top-rated ESG gold miners globally. We operate to the highest environmental and social standards which has enabled us to run a sustainable mining business in New Zealand for over three decades.”
Since the November 2019 exploration and subsequent February 2020 resource updates, the Company has drilled approximately 4,000m at WKP focussing on resource definition drilling of the East Graben vein; one of three, major low-sulphidation epithermal gold-silver veins identified to-date within the WKP prospect.
In February 2020, the company reported an updated Indicated Resource of 1.0 million tonnes grading 13.4 g/t gold and 25.5 g/t silver for 421,000 ounces of gold and 803,000 ounces of silver on the East Graben vein.
Additionally, an Inferred Resource of 1.9 million tonnes at a grade of 12.0 g/t gold and 20 g/t silver for 717,000 ounces of gold and 1,230,000 ounces of silver was reported with more than 80% of the Inferred Resource contained within the East Graben and two high-grade footwall veins. The remaining resource is from either the East Graben footwall or hanging wall veins including approximately 2% of the resource reported from the parallel T-Stream vein.
Although drilling to date has been almost entirely focussed on defining the extent of mineralisation on the East Graben vein, it remains open both to the southwest and northeast of the currently defined one-kilometre strike length and both up- and down-dip outside the vertical interval of approximately 200m defined to-date.
In 2021, the company expects to execute on a balanced drill programme of approximately 10,500m utilising two drill rigs. The first rig will continue infill drilling of approximately 4,650m on the East Graben vein zone and the other will test extensions of the East Graben vein and nearby T-Stream and Western veins with 5,850m planned.
A resource model update is planned for mid-2021.
