Gold: MetalsTech defines 1Moz resource for Slovakia project

Australian spot gold prices continue to trade above the $2,700 per ounce mark thanks to the weaker US dollar which offset a fall in the US spot price.

Gold for June delivery briefly broke past $US1,700 before slipping back down due to concerns that the COVID-19 pandemic might be escalating.

MetalsTech (ASX:MTC) has delineated a resource of 21.2 million tonnes grading 1.5 grams per tonne (g/t) gold and 11.6g/t silver, or a contained resource of just over 1 million ounces of gold and nearly 8 million ounces of silver for its Sturec gold mine in Slovakia.

This resource is contained within an optimised open pit shell at the mine, which historically produced over 1.5 million ounces of gold and 6.7 million ounces of silver.

An underground resource of 388,000 tonnes grading 3.45g/t gold and 21.6g/t silver, or 43,000 ounces of gold and 270,000 ounces of silver, has also been defined outside the optimised pit.

The deposit is open to the north and south along strike as well as down-dip and plunge.

While Slovakia has banned the use of the common cyanide leaching process for gold recovery, the company noted that tests using ammonium thiosulphate processing technology had achieved gold recoveries of 90.5 per cent.

Discussions are underway for toll treatment of Sturec ore to provide cash flow in the short-term from small scale mining.

Ora Banda Mining (ASX:OBM) has also upgraded resources for the Golden Eagle deposit, which is just 3.2km from the Davyhurst processing plant about 120km northwest of Kalgoorlie, Western Australia.

The deposit now hosts an underground resource of 393,000 tonnes grading 3.9g/t gold for 49,000 ounces of contained gold.

It includes an indicated resource of 247,000 tonnes grading 4.1g/t gold for 33,000 ounces of contained gold.

Ora Banda’s global resource for the Davyhurst project now stands at 23.5 million tonnes at 2.6g/t gold, or 2 million ounces of contained gold.

Detailed mine design and restart plans are now underway.

Blackham Resources (ASX:BLK) has intersected high-grade gold from extension drilling at the Golden Age underground mine.

Top results from drilling are 6.6m at 8.24g/t gold from 46.6m including 0.6m at 82.2g/t gold, 10.6m at 3.45g/t gold from 62.1m including 5.2m at 5.45g.t gold and 3.8m at 8.14g/t gold from 88.1m, 7.1m at 6.31g/t gold from 65.7m and 2.7m at 10.07g/t gold from 46.5m.

This was aimed at extending and improving high-grade free-milling mine life and improving transitional cash flows over the next 12-18 months.