Special Report: Wiluna’s upcoming resource and reserve updates are looking very positive after its ongoing development drilling returned multiple shallow, high-grade gold results.

Notable results from the recent focus on the Bulletin zone include 13.37m at 7.03 grams per tonne (g/t) gold from a depth of 68m, 11m at 4.04g/t gold from 46m and 6.73m at 5.56g/t gold from 50.27m.

Wiluna Mining’s (ASX:WMX) ongoing drilling at Bulletin is designed to infill areas of inferred resource within preliminary stope designs, with the aim to upgrade geological confidence to the indicated resource category.

Indicated resources provide enough information on geology and grade continuity to support mine planning.

The program is also aimed at extending potential stoping areas along strike, updip and downdip.

This is part of the company’s successful drilling strategy that has defined thick high-grade intervals at shallow levels, close to multiple previously mined zones with available access for rapid low-cost development, demonstrating that the Wiluna orebody is a very large scale and high-grade gold system.

Wiluna expects to further update its resources and ore reserves the first quarter of 2021.

Wiluna mining long section bulletin gold
Bulletin long section showing high-grade results and drilling. Pic: Supplied

Further drilling results

Meanwhile, drilling has returned a broad zone of 34m grading 4.88g/t gold from a depth of 183m that contained higher grade intervals of 14m at 8.32g/t gold and 5m at 7.4g/t gold at the West Lode South Zone and a high grade hit of 4.05m at 9.2g/t gold from 384.35m with a 0.45m zone of 57.3g/t gold at the Essex Zone.

Essex is a high-grade, high-priority mining zone in the Wiluna Central Mine area where drilling is intended to extend potential stoping areas both updip and downdip.

Drilling at Wiluna is being carried out by seven rigs with a focus on the highest value deposits that are scheduled for mining in the next four years to further strengthen the company’s sulphide mine plan.

Its Wiluna Mining Centre currently has a resource of 60.2 million tonnes grading 2.99g/t for 5.78 million ounces of contained gold that includes a high-grade component of 26.9Mt at 4.89g/t for 4.24Moz of contained gold.

Under the first stage of its sulphide plan, Wiluna plans to transition from its current production of 61,000oz per annum to producing about 120,000oz per annum by October 2021 using the current crushing and milling circuit and a new 750,000tpa concentrator.

Feasibility study work into the Stage 2 sulphide development is currently underway alongside the drilling and mine planning work that is aimed at providing confidence in both scale and grade.

Stage 2 envisages an upgrade to the plant to produce over 250,000oz per annum in gold doré and gold concentrate.

This article was developed in collaboration with Wiluna Mining, 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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