Astral eyes intercepts for Mandilla gold upgrade

Wide gold intercepts expected to support an incoming Astral upgrade
Intercepts appear to conform to current MRE due for a March quarter update
Astral subject to speculation as buyer and seller in high-priced gold market

Special Report: Astral Resources has logged some wide gold intercepts on a confidence-raising quest at its fully owned 1.3Moz Mandilla project near the gold capital of Kalgoorlie in WA.

The Astral Resources (ASX:AAR) strikes, coming from the project’s Theia deposit, are expected to support conversion of some of its considerable resource base to ‘indicated’.

The first two of the four-hole infill diamond program were headlined by a 28m at 2.63g/t gold intercept from 149m which included a 0.5m stretch of 115.7 g/t gold.

Both holes ended in mineralisation, offering further credence that Theia remains open at depth.

Results are also in from a 16-hole extensional RC campaign at the project’s Eos deposit, successfully finding shallow vein sets which host gold mineralisation in a similar style to Theia with a top intercept of 14m at 2.50g/t Au from 46m.

Astral managing director Marc Ducler said the diamond holes were designed to intersect mineralisation quartz vein sets on a slight angle, which would allow cost-effective testing of a larger portion of the deposit.

“Given this orientation, we were expecting to see several intersections down the length of each drill hole which, when aggregated, the mineralised sections have returned 172 gram-metres and 199 gram-metres in holes MDRCD919A and MDRCD920A respectively,” Ducler said.

“Pleasingly, the intersections appear to conform well to the current MRE, giving us belief that we will see increases in the higher confidence Indicated category when the MRE is updated during the March Quarter.”

Ducler added assay results for the final two diamond holes are expected soon, and that the company was confident in similar results based on the logging observations.

“The RC drilling at Eos, designed to test for extensions to the fresh rock mineralisation to the north-east of the Eos paleochannel, also delivered several mineralised gold intercepts, which indicate significant further potential to the north in an area not previously drilled,” he said.

“We commenced hydrogeological drilling for our PFS at Mandilla on January 5, 2025, while diamond drilling at Kamperman is planned from January and air-core drilling on regional targets at Feysville is expected to commence shortly afterwards.

“RC drilling at Feysville is currently planned to recommence at the start of February 2025. All in all, the Astral team is ramping up to deliver a big 2025.”

Adding up ounces

Lowell Resources Fund chief investment officer John Forwood told Stockhead it was seeing 50,000oz deposits become the new million, particularly in the WA Goldfields as a world-best example.

Astral has a somewhat larger collection, with Theia alone holding more than a million ounces among the Mandilla collection of Greek goddess-themed deposits.

Using the drill bit is one way to add up ounces, but acquiring them is another, with Astral itself subject to speculation as both buyer and seller.

The company put in a bid last year for Maximus Resources (ASX:MXR), which would see it become one of the biggest resource holders in the junior space, while Astral itself has been painted as a logical addition for South African giant Gold Fields.

Great expectations

Alongside the two outstanding diamond holes into Theia, Astral is expecting results from a three-hole campaign testing the southern extent of gold at the Kamperman deposit at its nearby Feysville project.

A water bore rig moved to site early in the month for a combined 13 holes across Mandilla and Feysville to determine dewatering requirements for a prefeasibility study; on track for the June quarter.

More diamond and AC drilling is also expected to begin at Feysville in January, with an updated MRE due for the March quarter adding to a heavy news flow as Astral weighs its next move.

This article was developed in collaboration with Astral Resources, a Stockhead advertiser at the time of publishing.

This article does not constitute financial product advice. You should consider obtaining independent advice before making any financial decisions.