Besra screams into high gear at Bau with second drill rig

Besra is accelerating drilling ops targeting extensions to known mineralisation at its 3.3Moz Bau gold field in East Malaysia with the addition of a second rig.

The mobilisation of the second rig will fast track drilling already in progress at the Jugan Deposit, of which about 320m of the planned 3,000m to 4,000m program has been completed since drilling began in November.

Besra Gold (ASX:BEZ) says visual observations from the first holes indicate drilling is intersecting the targeted zones with historically hosted gold mineralisation.

Core samples are being prepped for the lab with first results expected within five to six weeks while drilling will expand to the Pejiru and Bekajang prospects once work at Jugan is completed.

“The pace at which our team has achieved fully operational status at Bau, especially considering the on-going covid travel restrictions, has been exceptional,” chief executive officer Dr Ray Shaw said.

“In addition to re-establishing a fully functional office in Bau township our team has been able to successfully negotiate land access arrangements, contract earthworks for the preparation of drill pads and oversee the commencement of drilling activities, all within one month of Besra’s listing.”

Accelerated drilling

The second diamond rig is expected to be operational within two weeks and will initially focus on Jugan before moving to the Pejiru prospect.

Drilling at Jugan is intended to assist in both upgrading the classification and increasing the overall resource inventory to support future potential development feasibility studies.

This includes infill holes that will provide better definition of higher-grade zones that may be associated with the top of the plunging northeast limb.

Jurgan currently has a Measured and Indicated resource of 870,000oz of gold at a grade of 1.5 grams per tonne and a further 90,000oz at 1.6g/t gold in the Inferred category.

Pejiru contains a 997,000oz Inferred resource and a large exploration target associated with this resource where drilling density has not yet established maximum extent of mineralisation, which is open both down dip and along strike.

Drilling at Bekajang will target a lookalike of the historical Tai Parit mine that produced 1.2Moz of gold at an average grade of 7g/t in open-pit operations.

This article was developed in collaboration with Besra Gold, 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.