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Mining
“The more we drill, the more we find,” the mantra Firefinch management is using after the resounding success in drilling at the Morila Super Pit in Mali.
The “Super Pit” is the main bounty at the Morila gold mine Firefinch (ASX:FFX) bought from majors AngloGold and Barrick last year for around $38.5 million.
It’s showing potential far beyond that, with drilling identifying a new high-grade zone in the Super Pit.
The successful drilling from the eastern side of the pit, once one of the largest and highest grade gold mines in the world, has blown historical interpretations of the ore body out of the water.
The previous owners thought shearing had offset mineralisation in that portion of the orebody.
With strikes like 5m at 30.3g/t from 294.6m, including 1m at 128g/t, it seems anything but.
“It is always exciting to receive high grade drilling results but to receive several meaningful intersections above 30g/t gold is certainly noteworthy,” Firefinch managing director Michael Anderson said.
“It seems with Morila the more we drill, the more we find, and our intention is to continue drilling to better understand this globally significant deposit.
“Drill rigs will continue to turn over the Christmas – New Year period and we will provide a fuller update on results received in January along with our operations update.”
While 5m at 30.3g/t are certainly eye-catching numbers, that intercept was no outlier.
Aside from the three holes sampled in the eastern pit a number of other intercepts delivered significant gold.
They included:
Previously, drilling in the area was wide spaced, with the new results suggesting the historical belief shearing had cut off the gold mineralisation needs to be re-evaluated.
Importantly, these results – while down dip of the Morila resource and along strike from the Morila north east resource – are not within the mine plan or the mineral resource at Morila.
Infill drilling will be needed to confirm if the lode is continuous, with shallow high-grade intersections as well of 1.15m at 31.2g/t from 174m in MRD0021 and 1.2m at 18.1g/t from 177.3m in MRD0025.
If so, it will add more open pit ounces to Morila, which currently boasts a Measured, Indicated and Inferred resource of 1.86Moz at 1.5g/t.
Follow up drilling to infill these results and test for extensions is currently in progress, with drilling already completed between MRD0021 and MRD0025.
For Christmas, Firefinch will deliver its shareholders the gift of drilling – with four rigs to keep churning the dirt over the Christmas and New Year period.
Drilling is following up recent and historical intercepts such as the 10.5m at 34g/t in MRD001, along with outlining mineralisation within initial mining areas to support mineral resource and ore reserve upgrades.
The Morila operation is continuing to mature under Firefinch’s management, with the Viper and Morila 5 satellite deposits now the primary mill feed as lower grade tailings are depleted.
The pre-stripping of the Morila Super Pit will begin in the March quarter, supporting a ramp up to 100,000ozpa across 2022.
This article was developed in collaboration with Firefinch, 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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