Firefinch’s first diamond core hole has confirmed the continuity of high-grade gold mineralisation below its Morila Super Pit in Mali.

Hole MRD0001 returned a hit of 10.5m grading 30.4 grams per tonne (g/t) gold from a depth of 309.2m, which marks what the company says, is a return to Morila’s high-grade ‘heyday’.

Firefinch (ASX:FFX) adds that the continuity of high-grade mineralisation outside the current Morila Super Pit resource model, demonstrates potential for underground mining with initial studies already in progress.

“We were looking for a repeat of the historical high grades in the Morila Super Pit and it has taken us just one hole to demonstrate that ‘Morila the Gorilla’ is far from done,” managing director Dr Michael Anderson said.

“This is simply an incredible result from our first diamond core drillhole, which confirms not only the continuity of high-grade mineralisation below the previously mined pit, but also the significant potential for underground mining at Morila.

“This first drillhole is just the beginning. We look forward to ramping up our drilling efforts and to providing a steady flow of results from which to update the Mineral Resource and further optimise the ‘Life of Mine’ plan.”

Morila currently has a resource of 2.43 million oz of gold, 1.07Moz of which are considered to be ore reserves.

Diamond drilling is continuing at Morila and analyses are pending for the second diamond hole.

Long section showing results of MRD0001. Pic: Supplied

Drill results

MRD0001 was designed to test for extensions to mineralisation in the northeastern area of Morila, where prior drilling had returned results such as 14m at 21.7g/t gold from 119m and 6m at 9g/t gold from 146m.

Firefinch notes that the hole demonstrates that mineralisation continues to the north of the mined pit at Morila, with sufficient grade and thickness, to potentially support a range of mining methods.

It added that MRD0001 was drilled from the north, whereas historical drilling was either vertical or oriented to the east.

While further drilling will be needed to determine the true width of the intersection, the company is confident one of the major mineralised zones that hosted the past spectacular grades at Morila has been intersected.

The company reiterated that there are numerous high-grade intersections outside the Morila Super Pit which have not been closed off by drilling.

There is also minimal drilling below 250m from surface, and away from the footprint of the pit, representing a significant opportunity to discover new mineralisation beneath the pit.

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.

Read MoreGold

Featured Companies

You might be interested in