Astral’s best gold hit yet makes Mandilla resource upgrade a near certainty

Astral Resources diamond drilling returns best-ever metal accumulation of 1079 gram-metres of gold
Results demonstrate strong correlation with mineralisation wireframes, supporting a potential upgrade of deeper inferred resources to indicated category
Drilling has also identified extensions to mineralisation at the Kamperman deposit within the Feysville project

Special Report: Astral Resources could boost existing resources at its Mandilla project near Kalgoorlie after the final hole in its recent four-hole program returned its best-ever metal accumulation of 1079 gram-metres gold.

This is hugely positive as intersections of 100 gram-metres (g/t multiplied by thickness in metres) are typically considered to be an indicator of an economic deposit.

Hole MDRCD918 had returned multiple intersections including – though not limited to – 1m grading 223.3g/t gold from 15m, 9.6m at 27.6g/t from 194m, 2.4m at 169.1g/t from 225m and 24.9m at 4.14g/t from 362m.

The first two holes ended in mineralisation with a top hit of 28m at 2.63g/t gold from 149m.

Astral Resources (ASX:AAR) says the latest diamond drilling results at the Theia deposit demonstrate a strong correlation with the mineralisation wireframes in the current resource estimate, which supports an upgrade of the deeper inferred resource into the higher confidence indicated category.

Work has now started on updating the Mandilla resource estimate, which currently stands at 37Mt grading 1.1g/t, or 1.27Moz of contained gold, most of which sits within the Theia deposit. That makes it one of Western Australia’s largest undeveloped standalone gold deposits, a terrific asset to sit on at a time of $4350/oz gold prices.

Separately, assays have also been received from a three-hole reverse circulation program testing for possible extensions to the mineralisation at the southern extent of the Kamperman deposit at the Feysville gold project.

Best results from this program includes 6m at 1.04g/t gold from 114m.

Longitudinal projection through Theia illustrating drill trace, assay results and geological interpretation of the last two holes in the diamond drilling program. Pic: Astral Resources

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“The four-hole diamond drill program completed in December 2024 returned an average of 401 gram-metres when aggregating the reported mineralised intersections along the length of each hole,” AAR managing director Marc Ducler said.

“The final hole – MDRCD918 – returned the best ever metal accumulation in a single hole at Mandilla with an outstanding 1079 gram-metres.

“Given the key objective of this drill program was to upgrade deeper inferred mineral resources at Theia to the higher confidence indicated category, these results provide encouragement that we may have achieved this goal.

“Cube Consulting is currently working on an update to the Mandilla MRE. Once complete, this will pave the way for the commencement of detailed mine design and scheduling for the upcoming Mandilla pre-feasibility study. The MRE is expected to be completed later in the March Quarter 2025.”

Ducler added that diamond drilling and aircore drilling are currently underway at the Feysville project.

“The diamond drilling at the Kamperman deposit is designed to improve our understanding of the controls to the high-grade mineralisation which has previously been intersected in several holes,” he said.

“The aircore drilling is designed to investigate several promising structural targets, with 6.3 line-kilometres of drilling planned, to see if we can vector into potential new discoveries along trend from the known deposits.”

The aircore drilling encompasses six lines of drilling to test the Central Feysville Anticline and four lines to test several structural targets identified at the southern tenements.

Meanwhile, the diamond drilling will be followed by a 17-hole geotechnical drill program at the Kamperman, Rogan Josh and Think Big deposits.