Portia Gold Mine Extension
Adelaide, Nov 10, 2016 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Havilah Resources Limited (
ASX:HAV) (FWL:FRA) ("Havilah" or "Company") is pleased to report that bedrock assay results for drilling carried out on the open pit floor more than two months ago, shows gold mineralisation extends more than 20 metres into the bedrock below the current open pit floor. The best reportable result so far is from aircore drillhole PTAC244 : 23 metres of 6.8 g/t Au from the pit floor to 24 metres vertically below (to approximately -35 metre RL).
Key Points:
- Economic gold grades in pit floor drilling, including 23 metres of 6.8 g/t beneath current pit floor.
- Mining of ore in accordance with the original open pit mine design nearing completion.
- Planned cutback of south wall will potentially extend mine life by 12 months.
As is typical of Portia, this gold mineralisation is patchy with localised high grades, and it is necessary to wash the entire weight of each one metre drill sample in order to obtain a representative gold assay result that can be relied upon. Other nearby holes drilled in the same program contain potentially economic gold mineralisation based on conventional gold assays but are considered to be too unreliable to report, as explained in the cautionary note below. Additional drilling on the pit floor is planned once mining operations have ceased there and it is safe to do so.
At the present time, a portion of this gold mineralised material has been mined and delivered to the ore stockpile at the processing plant. It is anticipated that the bulk of the remainder of this mineralised material, comprising extensively altered and veined soft clayey saprolite (or weathered bedrock), will be mined over coming weeks.
Havilah's mining partner Consolidated Mining and Civil Pty Ltd (CMC) reports that it is now approaching the final stages of exposing the open pit floor in accordance with the original mine design. Accordingly, within the next month the remainder of the original target in pit resource of 355,000 tonnes of ore material will be delivered to the surface.
This will be largely within the original 18 month time frame estimated by CMC, despite several abnormal rain delays and the geotechnically driven pitwall re-profiling. Processing of the stockpiled ore will continue for several months.
A significant extension to the Portia gold mineralisation was previously discovered by drilling in the south wall of the open pit (ASX announcement 24 August 2016). Based on internal non-JORC gold resources* estimated for this mineralisation, Havilah and CMC have agreed in principle to proceed with a 120 metre cutback of the south wall. A Memorandum of Understanding and formal legal documentation are currently being prepared and further details will be released upon approval and execution by both parties. In the meantime, Havilah has been working closely with the South Australian Department of State Development (DSD) to secure approvals for this extended operation, which will entail expansion of the overburden waste dump and tailings storage facility. The full 120 metre cutback will potentially extend the Portia mine life by a further 12 months. Based on mining experience and ore reconciliations at Portia to date, CMC and Havilah expect that the southern extension mineralisation should yield similar returns to the current Portia operations.
Havilah will continue to maintain a program of drilling both within and adjacent to the current open pit with the aim of expanding the Portia resource. It is also currently advancing planning to commence a PACE (Program for Accelerated Exploration) regional drilling program in the vicinity of Portia on several promising targets.
Havilah Managing Director, Dr Chris Giles, commented: "Portia started out as a short 18 month mining operation and now on cue, the current open pit is rapidly approaching its original design footprint. "Our mining partner, CMC, has performed admirably in meeting its Portia mining targets in a very professional and safe manner, notwithstanding many challenges along the way. "Our earlier drilling has confirmed southern extensions to the Portia gold mineralisation and we have been discussing with CMC for some time about a pit wall cutback, which will potentially extend the Portia mine life for at least another 12 months.
"Drilling of bedrock beneath the open pit floor has confirmed economic grades of gold mineralisation for a further 24 metres depth and we expect to ultimately mine all of this gold bearing bedrock material and possibly even beyond this depth subject to our ongoing drilling results" he said.
*The absence of a JORC resource means that no grade or tonnage numbers can be published at this stage. Havilah and CMC are confident that based on their successful mining experience at Portia thusfar, this gold mineralisation can be profitably mined and processed.
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About Havilah Resources Ltd
Havilah Resources Ltd (ASX:HAV) is a debt free South Australian gold producer having recently financed and developed its first gold mine at Portia in north-eastern South Australia. It plans to follow on with three copper-gold-cobalt mining developments at North Portia, Kalkaroo and Mutooroo, which are underpinned by a JORC resources mineral inventory of over 1.4 million tonnes of copper, 3.6 million ounces of gold, and 18,000 tonnes of cobalt.
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