Aeris Resources Ltd (ASX:AIS) is off to a good start with plans to extend the life of its Cracow Gold Operations in central Queensland through a maiden resource estimate (MRE) of 62,000 ounces at the Golden Plateau deposit with 300,000 ounces of silver to boot.
The 620,000 tonnes MRE at 3.1 g/t gold and 15 g/t silver includes an indicated component of 130,000 tonnes at 3.4 g/t gold and 18 g/t silver for 14,000 gold ounces and 70,000 silver ounces.
It also includes an inferred resource of 49,000 tonnes at 3.0 g/t gold and 15 g/t silver for 48,000 ounces of gold and 230,000 ounces of silver.
Exploration target
Aeris has also established an exploration target outside the Golden Plateau MRE of 430,000 to 1 billion tonnes at a grade range of 3 to 4 g/t for 60,000 to 130,000 ounces and at a cut-off grade of 1.5 g/t.
The potential quantity and grade of the exploration target are conceptual in nature and are therefore an approximation.
“Part in extending life”
Executive chairman Andre Labuschagne said: “This maiden mineral resource and exploration target validates our long-held view that the Golden Plateau deposit has the potential to play an important part in extending the life of our Cracow Operation.
“The focus is now on conceptual mining studies to incorporate the deposit into the mine plan and to continue drilling the defined exploration target.
“Mining at Cracow has occurred since the 1930s, producing in the region of 2.5 million ounces of gold from the Eastern and Western Vein Fields.
"At a broader strategic level, our aim is to find the next significant vein field, with the Southern Vein Field area our current primary target.”
Open pit component
The mineral resource comprises a potential open pit component totalling 160,000 tonnes at 2.9 g/t gold for 15,000 ounces at a 0.5 g/t cut-off within a conceptual open pit shell.
A potential underground mining component of 450,000 tonnes at 3.2 g/t for 47,000 ounces is reported at a higher 1.5 g/t cut-off below the potential open pit resource.
Map showing the Cracow Goldfield including the Golden Plateau deposit and the Cracow processing facility.
About Golden Plateau
The Golden Plateau deposit is 1 kilometre north of the Cracow Processing Facility and is along a regional northwest trending epithermal quartz vein structure that has been traced along a total strike length of 7 to 10 kilometres.
Anomalous gold mineralisation has been traced along most of the prospective northwest trending corridor.
The Golden Plateau deposit is at a major inflection (dilational jog) along the regional structure, where it changes orientation to an east-west trend.
Historical production
Golden Plateau mine and surrounding deposits historically produced about 850,000 ounces of gold within a prospective corridor extending 1-kilometres along strike.
Production was derived from several distinct high-grade gold shoots ranging in size from about 40,000 ounces to around 200,000 ounces.
The deposit was first mined from the 1930s through to the 1970s via underground methods. Eight underground levels were developed down to 270 metres below surface.
Open pit mining followed the underground operation, focusing on mineralised material left behind by the underground workings.
The open pit was mined down to 110 metres below surface coinciding with the number 4 underground level. Open pit mining ceased in the early 1990s.
A decline was developed from the open pit with some underground production occurring until the mid-1990s.
Golden Plateau and other deposits along strike were the original focus of underground and open pit mining at Cracow between 1930 and 1994. The MRE comprises remnant unmined areas and new structures or subordinate structures.
Moving forward
The company’s intention is to complete further drilling at the Golden Plateau deposit to test the exploration targets with the aim of increasing the mineral resource inventory.
Further drilling will begin following a mining study of the current resource in 2023.