Continued recent drilling success has helped Red 5 Limited (ASX: RED) announce a significantly updated bulk mining Mineral Resource estimate for the King of the Hills (KOTH) Gold Project, in the Eastern Goldfields region of WA comprising of an estimated 4.07 million ounces of contained gold.
The updated Resource is based on an A$2,100 optimised pit shell, utilising both Indicated and Inferred Resources, and represents a 31% increase in contained gold over the previous Mineral Resource estimate announced in May 2019.
Red 5 Managing Director, Mark Williams, said 74% of the Mineral Resource estimate, 69.8Mt at 1.3g/t Au for 3.01Moz of contained gold, is classified in the “Indicated Resource” category.
“This updated Mineral Resource provides an exceptional base from which to complete our Final Feasibility Study for the bulk open pit and underground mine and stand-alone process plant operation at King of the Hills,” Mr Williams said.
“Our Resource development programmes over the past 12 months have added significantly to our global Resource, bringing it to over four million ounces of contained gold and confirming KOTH’s status as one of Australia’s premier emerging gold projects.
“The updated Mineral Resource model has seen a 69% increase in the open pit component of the Mineral Resource. We are now looking at a very large-scale open pit mining operation at KOTH, with a significant portion of the previous underground Resource now captured within an expanded pit shell.
“Based on this updated Resource model, we continue to forge ahead with the final components of the bulk mining Final Feasibility Study, including mining and engineering studies and an updated Ore Reserve. These work programmes are on track to deliver the Final Feasibility Study on schedule in the September 2020 Quarter.
“Our drilling programmes at King of the Hills will continue both in the near-mine environment and across our regional targets, with ongoing results to feed into future Resource updates.
“We expect to release maiden Mineral Resource estimates for the Cerebus-Eclipse and Centauri satellite targets in April 2020, with these deposits offering the potential to supply oxide mill feed during the early stages of a bulk mining operation.”
Compared to the May 2019 Mineral Resource estimate, the March 2020 Mineral Resource model has delivered a significant increase in the open pit component of the Mineral Resource (from 2.00Moz to 3.37Moz) and a reduction in the underground Mineral Resource (from 1.11Moz to 0.70Moz). This is due to a large proportion of the contained ounces within and outside of the May 2019 Underground Resource estimate now falling into the much larger optimised pit shell.
Next steps of the FFS include:
- Finalisation of mine planning studies to enable the calculation of an updated Ore Reserve for the KOTH Bulk mining operation, with initial estimates indicating stripping ratios will be similar to those outlined in the July 2019 PFS;
- Calculation of maiden Mineral Resource estimates for key satellite deposits, Cerebus-Eclipse and Centauri, which offer the potential to provide oxide ore in the early stages of the bulk mining operation;
- Finalisation of the mill and other infrastructure design including assessment of early works and deposits on long-lead items; and
Parallel conduct of financing and permitting workstreams to accelerate the development of the project.
