West Australian focused gold exploration and development company, Rox Resources Limited (ASX: RXL), has obtained a significant increase to the Mineral Resource Estimate (MRE) for the Youanmi Gold Project near Mt Magnet, Western Australia.
Drilling and exploration work at the Youanmi Gold Project in the OYG JV area (Rox 70% and Manager, VMC 30%) has yielded substantial increases in known and defined tonnages and ounces since the acquisition and commencement of drilling in mid-2019.
Rox has used in-house expertise to complete the Youanmi Deeps Resource update and engaged CSA Global (who completed the previous update in June 2021) to conduct independent checks of the modelling process.
The previous resource for Youanmi Deeps and Near Surface was published in June.
Managing Director Alex Passmore said this substantial upgrade to the Youanmi Gold Project Mineral Resource Estimate follows the successful execution of a targeted infill, extensional, and discovery drilling strategy.
“The geology team are to be commended for discovering new gold bearing structures with our targeting strategy showing demonstrable returns, especially at Link, and with additional mineralisation-parallel lodes discovered.
“This resource update sees a tripling of the 2018 Deeps Resource with more drilling from the last few months of 2021 still to be incorporated in the overall resource.
“We took the decision to provide an interim updated resource estimate given the very long assay turnaround times being experienced of up to 14 weeks in some cases.
“With the recent determination of the Albion process as our preferred processing method for the high-grade sulphide-associated ore bodies at Youanmi, which show we can likely achieve metallurgical recoveries around 95% (92.2% average for underground), we are well positioned to benefit from the increased resource. Rox continues to trade at very low enterprise value per attributable resource ounce metrics calculated currently at $22 per ounce.
“Youanmi mine feasibility studies continue with early mine planning results feeding back into targeted infill drilling areas for continued conversion of inferred material into indicated categories.
“We also continue to work on grass roots exploration activities in areas outside the immediate Youanmi mine area with the intent of making new discoveries in the region.”
Comparison to June 2021 Deeps Resource Estimate
For the Deeps Resource an increase in total Au metal of 156% has been achieved, both in the Indicated and Inferred categories. It is noted that in 2021 a 4.0 g/t Au cut-off grade was applied, which has now been reduced to 3.0 g/t Au based on recent mine planning assumptions, and that on an equal cut-off grade basis, specifically using a 4.0 g/t Au cut-off, the comparison to June 2021 still shows a significant increase in metal of 128%.
For further information please visit: https://www.roxresources.com.au/
