Pic: Getty Images
Manuka books 360% increase in Mt Boppy gold resource
Mining
share
Manuka Resources has delivered a fourfold increase in the Mt Boppy gold resource, with nearly 80% more gold in the higher confidence measured and indicated categories.
Manuka Resources (ASX:MKR) has grown its gold inventory for the Mt Boppy mine in the Cobar Basin by 360% to 160,100oz.
Importantly, the higher confidence measured and indicated resources are up 79% to 76,500oz at a higher grade of 3.53 grams per tonne (g/t).
Executive chairman Dennis Karp said Mt Boppy “has the makings of an exceptional gold asset”.
“Having started life as a listed company with 39,000oz gold in resources at Mt Boppy, we have produced >41,000oz gold (560,000t at 3g/t) and still have almost double that in current measured and indicated resources,” he said.
“To date we have added an additional 162,000oz, of which, importantly, 76,500oz is a measured and indicated resource and work continues on site with an aim to increase this substantially.
“The company has yet to test our most prospective exploration targets. With the anticipated cash flow from our gold production, we are in a strong position to not only upgrade our Inferred ounces to higher categories but also continue to grow the overall resource.”
Manuka restarted gold production at Mt Boppy in mid-June after a preliminary evaluation showed the economic viability of treating a screened product at the Wonawinta plant.
Mt Boppy has previously been a very nice money-maker for Manuka, beating expectations on several levels prior to the completion of Manuka’s first phase of mining in the final quarter of 2021.
During the previous mining campaign, the operation outperformed forecasts by over 70% with respect to ore milled, recovered ounces and sales revenue.
Importantly, the current mining campaign will underpin organically funded exploration of the priority targets identified in Manuka’s Strategic Exploration Review, which revealed substantial silver and gold resource upside along with high-grade base metals potential within the Cobar Basin tenements.
This is the first resource upgrade in over 12 months and incorporates the results of recent bulk sampling and screening evaluation of rock dumps and tailings.
Measured resources comprise 106,850t at 5.25g/t for 18,028oz of contained gold, indicated resources increased to 715,088t at 2.54g/t for 58,477oz of contained gold, and inferred resources now sit at around 1.8Mt at 1.47g/t for 83,608oz of contained gold.
Manuka expects to convert most of the inferred resource to an indicated resource as production continues, as well as add additional ounces to the inferred resource.
The company also plans to test the depth extensions at Mt Boppy which provides scope for continued resource growth.
This article was developed in collaboration with Manuka 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.
