Magnetic upgrades resource for scaled-up Lady Julie gold project

Magnetic Resources upgrades Lady Julie gold resource to 1.75Moz with 75% now in the indicated category
Concurrent underground operation targeting higher grade ore increases gold production to 150,000ozpa
Work – including metallurgical testing – underway to support completion of feasibility study by end Q1 2025

Special Report: Magnetic Resources has upgraded resources at its flagship Lady Julie gold project after deeper infill drilling at the Lady Julie North 4 deposit increased gold inventory, resource confidence and continuity of mineralisation.

The project now has a combined resource of 28.11Mt grading 1.93g/t gold, or 1.75Moz of contained gold, with 75% (up from 68%) contained within the higher confidence indicated category that allows for mine planning.

This is thanks in no small part to the recent deeper infill drilling increasing resources at Lady Julie North 4 from 23.1Mt at 2.01g/t gold to 23.6Mt at 2.04g/t gold.

Overall resources across Magnetic Resources’ (ASX:MAU) Laverton assets have also increased from 32.6Mt at 1.79g/t for 1.88Moz of contained gold to 33.14Mt at 1.81g/t for 1.9Moz of contained gold.

The resource upgrade will assist in building a substantial future mining reserve that will in turn underpin a development that will comprise three open pits, a carbon-in-leach processing plant and supporting infrastructure.

A scoping study has also found that a concurrent underground operation producing 550,000tpa of higher-grade ore will add significantly to the Lady Julie project value.

Underground access development is scheduled to start in year two of production to minimise the potential for disruption of the main part of the project.

To account for the addition of underground mining, the processing plant design capacity is being boosted to 2.75Mtpa with the key change being in comminution where a ball/SAG mill circuit is now proposed in place of multistage crushing/ball mill.

Plant design and costing will be completed in early February.

Lady Julie is currently expected to produce 150,000ozpa of gold over eight years.

Greater scale provides more credibility

“The LJN4 resource has been the company’s primary drilling focus over recent months with the completion of infill drilling and some extension drilling at depth in the northern part of LJN4, which consists of thick strongly altered zones mainly associated with intensely fuchsite altered ultramafic rock types,” managing director George Sakalidis said.

“Two deeper holes are being planned testing for deeper extensions of the main ultramafic-hosted lodes, which are still open at depth and one deeper hole beneath the southern breccia- silica-pyrite lode.

“The LJN4 deposit sits within a regional structure called the Chatterbox Shear Zone that extends over 12km in length within the Magnetic tenements and remains as a prospective target zone where RC drilling has been recently completed.”

He added that while the original Lady Julie gold project pre-feasibility study was released on March 7, 2024, it was now envisaged – with advanced planning underway – at a scale to provide more credibility to the wider industry and offer more substantial value to shareholders.

MAU is continuing metallurgical testwork to optimise the treatment process with differing lithology units while a mining proposal has been submitted to WA’s Department of Energy, Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety.

The proposal supports the application for two new mining leases and a new miscellaneous lease covering the remainder of the project footprint.

The company also expects to complete the expanded feasibility study by the end of Q1, 2025.

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.