Part of the flagship Ravensthorpe Gold Project (RGP) south-east of Perth, the Desmond deposit was once upon a time Western Australia’s largest copper producer until the discovery and development of Telfer – now owned by Newcrest Mining – during the 1970’s.

Now, it boasts a shiny new mineral resource deposit, based on 4,127m of historical diamond and reverse circulation drilling, which sits at 270,000t at 0.8 g/t gold and 1.3% copper for 27,000oz gold equivalent.

Medallion Metals (ASX:MM8) controls the northern extent of the historical workings on granted mining lease 74/163, which produced around 15,600t of contained copper and gold as a by-product.

Today, the deposit is open down dip and the $3m market cap company believes it represents a promising new copper-gold discovery opportunity.

Potential extensions along strike to the north, at depth as well as possible mineralised parallel structures, represent significant exploration targets that have the potential to enhance the economics of the established resources within the wider Kundip Mining Centre (KMC).

Tremendous opportunity abounds

“It’s pleasing to have Desmond on the book as a JORC compliant resource,” MM8 managing director Paul Bennett says.

“It was a valuable exercise for the team to revisit the historical drilling and turn their minds to the opportunity that exists at the Desmond workings and their extensions.

“Given that the deposit is situated on a granted mining lease, it’s open at depth and to the north and it’s located just 7km to the north of Kundip, Desmond represents a tremendous opportunity to enhance the economics of a future development.”

What’s next on the cards?

Drilling recommenced at KMC in September with 10,000m of drilling planned to be undertaken targeting extensions to established mineral resources at Gem and Harbour View.

After completing around 8,000m of new drilling, the last drill demobilised from site on November 30 with key objectives of the drill program having been achieved.

All drilling has been sampled and despatched to the laboratory for assay and MM8 says results will be reported as and when they are returned.

Meanwhile, a further MRE has been deferred to January 2023 to allow results from Gem extensional drilling to be included.

This will maximise the resource inventory and form the basis of a pre-feasibility study to be completed in 2023.

 

 

 

This article was developed in collaboration with Medallion Metals, 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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