An extensive drilling program has resulted in Alkane Resources Ltd (ASX:ALK, OTC:ALKEF) growing the gold and copper bounty at the Boda system within the Northern Molong Porphyry Project (NMPP) in Central West New South Wales.
A revised indicated and inferred mineral resource estimate (MRE) for the Boda Deposit including Boda 2-3 now stands at 583 million tonnes at 0.58 g/t gold-equivalent (0.34 g/t gold and 0.18% copper) for 10.9 million gold equivalent ounces.
This includes 6.38 million ounces of gold and 1.03 million tonnes of copper.
Improved grades
Not only has the revised MRE increased metal endowment by 22%, or 1.17 million ounces of gold and 100,000 tonnes of copper, it has also lifted the gold grade by 30% and the copper grade by 28%.
The revised Boda MRE takes Alkane’s overall bounty in the NMPP to 853 million tonnes at 0.57 g/t gold equivalent for 15.7 million ounces with 8.43 million ounces of gold and 1.52 million tonnes of copper.
This incorporates the inferred resource at Kaiser deposit containing 2.1 million ounces of gold and 500,000 tonnes of copper.
With this resource being infilled to a nominal 50 x 50-metre drill grid spacing, a revised Kaiser resource including an indicated category is expected to be released next quarter.
“Significant potential”
Alkane managing director Nic Earner said: “This updated resource shows the significant potential of both Boda and the larger Northern Molong Porphyry Project.
“Not only has the definition increased from inferred to indicated but the entire resource has increased in both grade and metal endowment.
"We will be adding to the indicated resource when Kaiser is updated in Q1 next year.”
Investors have responded positively with shares as much as 7.1% higher in ASX morning trading to A$0.68.
Geology of the Northern Molong Porphyry Project.
About revised MRE
The revised MRE for the Boda deposit was confined to a surface area of 1,750 metres strike length and 500 metres width using a nominal drill hole grid of 50 by 50 metres around the Boda deposit broadening to approaching a nominal 100 by 100 metres at Boda 2-3 and drilling to depths averaging about 1,000 metres.
It utilises assay results captured from 186 drill holes for a total of 145,458 metres comprising 102,282 metres of diamond core and 43,176 metres of RC drilling.
This equates to an extra 103 drill holes for a total of 74,027 metres being used to estimate the revised Boda resource and to include previously unclassified mineralisation at Boda 2-3.
Resource growth potential
While the resource will be subject to further resource infill and extension drilling with a view to define the continuity of the mineralisation at depth and to improve confidence, there is strong potential for further resource growth at NMPP, which is to the north of Alkane’s existing Tomingly Gold Operations.
Drilling continues to define the overall system with extensions being tested south and at depth at Boda 2-3, and northwest of Boda towards Kaiser. The Boda deposit remains open at depth and along strike to the south.
About NMPP
The NMPP is in the Central West of NSW at the northern end of the Molong Volcanic Belt of the Macquarie Arc and is considered highly prospective for large-scale porphyry and epithermal gold-copper deposits like others within the broader region.
Exploration has identified six discrete magnetic/intrusive complexes – Kaiser, Boda, Boda South, Comobella, Driell Creek and Finns Crossing – within a 15-kilometre northwest trending corridor.
More regional exploration will occur in the coming months targeting the Driell Creek, Konigin and Finns Crossing prospects that are all positioned within the 15-kilometre northwest trending intrusive corridor.
Alkane continues to work on pre-development studies for the NMPP and Earner said: “We’re working on a scoping study that starts to outline the economics of the Boda & Kaiser system that we will be finalising after the Kaiser resource is updated.
“We’re looking forward to this time and further demonstrating the potential of the system.”
READ: Alkane Resources fields strong copper-gold metallurgical recoveries at Boda and Kaiser
Meanwhile, substantial metallurgical test work has established a viable and simple flowsheet with overall recoveries at Boda of 87.4% for copper and 80.9% for gold with a saleable concentrate.