Special Report: Norwest has upgraded resources at its Bulgera project by 43 per cent to 2.92 million tonnes grading 1 gram per tonne (1g/t), or 93,880 ounces of contained gold.

Significantly, the majority of this resource, or 2.06Mt at 1g/t gold for 66,230 ounces of contained gold, is in the higher confidence indicated category – a 61 per cent increase from previous estimates.

Norwest Minerals (ASX:NWM) added that the indicated resource, which has enough grade continuity and geological certainty to enable mine planning, is primarily softer near-surface material.

This type of material is generally easier to both mine and process, which when coupled with the shallow depth results in lower gold production costs.

3D image of mineralisation envelopes below the Bulgera and Mercuri pit Pic: Supplied

The upgrade comes after the company completed reverse circulation drilling late last year targeting mineralisation below and adjacent to the historic Mercuri and Bulgera open cut pits.

Drilling included twins to 10 previous drill holes that confirmed the geological features, gold tenor and intercept widths of the majority of holes duplicated while infill drilling contributed to the increase in indicated resources.

Deeper step-out drilling also produced some intriguing results such as 3m at 10.5g/t gold from a depth of 84m and 4 at 6.8g/t gold from 71m. Results above 5g/t gold are generally considered to be high grade.

That the company’s project acquisition and exploration costs are a low $11 per resource ounce is just icing on the cake.

Aircore drilling underway at the Bulgera gold project
Aircore drilling underway at the Bulgera gold project Pic: Supplied

Norwest is currently carrying out a 5,000m aircore drilling program to test several gold targets along the 5km Bulgera greenstone mine sequence, which is along strike of the historic Bulgera mining centre.

This includes an area where high-grade gold surface samples of up to 86g/t gold were collected by the company.

Completion of the drill program is expected at the end of this month.

Norwest acquired Bulgera in the middle of 2019 and quickly announced a maiden resource of 65,600 ounces of contained gold using the extensive historic database.

It previously noted that the proximity of Bulgera to neighbouring mills like Plutonic provided the option for toll treating once it had built a large enough resource.

 

This story was developed in collaboration with Norwest Minerals, a Stockhead advertiser at the time of publishing.
This story does not constitute financial product advice. You should consider obtaining independent advice before making any financial decisions.

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