Capricorn Metals has announced an increase of over a third to the underground resource at its Orion South underground mine – now sitting at an estimated 895,000 ounces of gold.
The company has announced the mineral resource estimate (MRE) at the site – located approximately 280km northeast of Perth as part of the Mt Gibson gold project – has increased to 9.5 million tonnes at 2.9 grams per tonne (g/t) of gold following over 13,000 metres of underground focused diamond drilling.
Announcement of increased resource comes just months after Capricorn delivered its maiden underground MRE for the site in July, which also saw the base grow following the acquisition of the nearby Mongers Lake project previously owned Albion Resources.
Drilling under both the Orion and Lexington pits has demonstrated, the company said, continuation of broad, high-grade mineralisation at depth and helped constitute a 31 per cent uplift in MRE at the site.
A total of 48 holes were drilled with significant intercepts including 3m at 46.28 g/t from 186 to 189m and 4.9m at 28.11 g/t from 420.4 to 423.5m.
“Increasing the Orion South underground resource by over 30 per cent…in less than four months since the maiden underground resource is indicative of the emerging underground opportunity at Mt Gibson,” Capricorn executive chairman Mark Clark said.
“Capricorn is committed to a strategy of growing the resource, delivering ore reserves and completing the work to validate our belief that Mt Gibson will become a long mine life open pit and underground mining operation.”
Next steps at Orion South will focus on upgrading and expanding the underground resource through ongoing drilling, technical studies, and optimisation of the open pit–underground interface, with key outcomes expected by the second half of next year.
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