Red 5 Ltd (ASX:RED) has released significant updates to its estimated ore reserves and resources for its King Of The Hills (KOTH) and Darlot gold projects in Western Australia.
Updated KOTH Mineral Resource Estimate (MRE) as at 30 June 2022:
• Total Measured, Indicated and Inferred Resource of 95.3Mt @ 1.4g/t Au for 4.4Moz of contained gold for KOTH open pit and underground, comprising:
o Open Pit Resource: 81.2Mt @ 1.3g/t Au for 3.4Moz of contained gold (representing a 3% increase in contained gold over the previous MRE as at 30 June 2021).
o Underground Resource: 14.1Mt @ 2.2g/t Au for 1.0Moz of contained gold (representing a 20.5% increase in contained gold over the previous MRE as at 30 June 2021).
o Underground MRE includes a significant 32% increase in contained ounces in the higher confidence Indicated Resource category.
• Updated Resource is based on an additional 24,100m of underground drilling and 70,000m of open pit grade control drilling.
• Global KOTH MRE is 105.5Mt @ 1.4g/t Au for 4.7Moz of contained gold, including satellite deposits and stockpiles. Updated KOTH Ore Reserve Estimate as at 30 June 2022:
• Total Proved and Probable Reserve of 70Mt @ 1.2g/t Au for 2.7Moz of contained gold (representing a 12.7% increase in contained gold over the previous Ore Reserve as at 30 June 2021). • Udated KOTH Ore Reserve reflects the completion of grade control drilling and a re-design of all open pit cut-backs and a deepening of the Stage 2 pit.
Updated Darlot Mineral Resource Estimate as at 30 June 2022:
• Total Measured, Indicated and Inferred Resource of 17.1Mt @ 3.4g/t Au for 1.84Moz of contained gold (representing a 25% increase in contained gold over the previous MRE as at 30 June 2021).
• Updated Resource is based on underground drilling completed over the past 12 months, updated geology and mapping, and an inaugural JORC 2012 MRE for the satellite Mission and Cable deposits. Updated Darlot Ore Reserve Estimate as at 30 June 2022:
• Total Proved and Probable Reserve of 1.3Mt @ 2.6g/t Au for 109koz of contained gold.
• Updated Darlot Ore Reserve represents a 94koz (47%) decrease in contained ounces since the previous Ore Reserve Estimate as at 30 June 2021, reflecting FY2021 mining depletion of 78,000oz and including 21koz of contained gold in new mining areas at Middle Walters South, Metzke, Crown Pillar and Darlot.
“The updated Reserve and Resource Statement for 2022 represents an outstanding result for Red 5 and underscores the quality endowment of King of the Hills, which is still open in all directions,” Managing Director, Mark Williams, said.
“Surface and underground drilling continues daily, to increase the definition, understanding and size of the orebody.
“Our global Mineral Resource base across the Eastern Goldfields – including the King of the Hills and Darlot mining operations, as well as our satellite deposits – has increased by 10 per cent and now stands at 6.6 million ounces of contained gold.
“The substantial Resource growth has been predominantly at the new King of the Hills mining operation, where gold production commenced in June 2022. Underground drilling at KOTH has enabled a 20.5 per cent increase in the underground Resource to one million ounces of contained gold, with a very pleasing 32 per cent increase in the Indicated Resource category.
“In the KOTH open pit, we are very pleased that the grade control drilling has increased the overall resource confidence.
“The King of the Hills Ore Reserve has increased by 12.5 per cent to 2.7 million ounces of contained gold, largely reflecting grade control drilling and some enhancements to the open pit design. KOTH continues to demonstrate exceptional capacity for Resource and Reserve growth, and we believe that an orebody of this size and a mining operation of this scale has the potential to support a higher processing rate than the current designed capacity of 4.7Mtpa.
“A study will be initiated to determine an optimal future processing rate for the KOTH operation, potentially increasing annual gold production and cash-flow. Importantly, the process plant has already been built with this expansion objective in mind, leaving scope for the gold leaching and recovery circuit to be expanded at low cost with minimal disruption to plant operations.
“Meanwhile at Darlot, drilling and Resource definition programs have delivered a 25 per cent increase in the Mineral Resource base, including inaugural JORC 2012 Resources for the satellite Mission and Cable open pits. Our aim is to progressively upgrade these Resources at Darlot for future conversion to Ore Reserves.”
For further information please visit: https://www.red5limited.com/
