Magnetic has cracked the half million ounce mark after pencilling in maiden resources for its gold deposits in the Laverton and Homeward Bound areas, Western Australia.

Its HN9, Lady Julie Central, Lady Julie North 4, Mount Jumbo East and Homeward Bound South now have a combined resource of 13.1Mt grading 1.22 grams per tonne (g/t) gold at the 0.5g/t cut-off for 511,000oz of contained gold within close proximity to third-party processing plants.

Importantly for Magnetic Resources (ASX:MAU), the majority of this resource is shallow with 49% and 87% of the resource within 50m and 100m from surface respectively, a strong hint that mining will require just a regular open pit with low strip ratios and potentially lower costs.

This is backed up by the company’s open pit optimisation, which found that 87% of the contained gold is constrained by typical West Australian gold mining and processing costs and gold prices of $2,600 per ounce and processing cost of $25/tonne and metallurgical recovery of 95%.

Further growth is also likely with the Lady Julie 4 resource still open at depth and to the south-southeast with results pending from a recent 17 hole program totalling 2,796m along with an exploration target of between 2.6Mt to 3.6Mt at 0.94g/t to 1.2g/t gold.

That the resource was achieved at a low discovery cost of just $24/oz just adds further to Magnetic’s optimism about the large potential of the project.

“The Maiden Mineral Resource Estimate is a significant milestone for Magnetic Resources with the exceptionally shallow nature of the resources and location of the deposits in the heart of the Laverton and Leonora regions auguring well for strong economics from future development,” managing director George Sakalidis said.

“A core focus for the company going forward will now be to complete project studies to define the development and production opportunities that these Resources bring, in parallel to continued exploration and review of strategic opportunities which we continue to pursue with the support of Jefferies.”

Key deposits

Lady Julie North Central hosts the highest certainty resource with 90% of its 75,000oz resource contained within the Indicated category that is sufficient for mine planning.

This has significant potential for growth with an area extending from known mineralisation at Lady Julie Central with a number of intersections within the 1km length to the north comprising most of the Lady Julie exploration target of 1.6Mt to 2.2Mt at 0.9g/t to 1.2g/t gold for 67,000oz to 83,000oz.

Lady Julie North 4 has a resource of 109,000oz and remains open down-dip and to the south-southeast, the latter of which is associated with a sinistral fault where the mineralisation is interpreted to be to the east of the main north-south trend of the deposit.

Most of the holes in the recent drilling program are aimed at extending the mineralisation at depth and testing the extension.

The majority (63%) of Hawks Nest 9’s 130,000oz resource is within the Indicated category.

Several zones remain open to the northeast and at depth – especially within the central thickened zone at the southern end of the deposit.

 

 

This article was developed in collaboration with Magnetic 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.

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