Extensional drilling has delivered a swag of stellar gold intersections for Anglo Australian Resources at its flagship Mandilla gold project located 70km south of Kalgoorlie. Eye-catching widths and impressive grades occur in numerous holes including a staggering 64.57 metres grading 3.49 grams per tonne gold from 190m at Mandilla East. An update to the mineral resource estimate for the project has commenced and the company believes the extension to Mandilla East is likely to add significantly to the resource.
The Perth-based explorer put down over 7,000m of drilling in 51 reverse circulation, or “RC” drill holes and 584m in two diamond drill holes and samples were submitted to the lab from February to April. Assay results from 21 RC drill holes and two diamond holes, totalling 3,636m from Mandilla East, revealed a bounty of wide intercepts including 30m at 4.76 g/t, 37m grading 3.07 g/t and 39m going 1.23 g/t gold.
The headline drill hole at Mandilla East that produced the 64.57m at 3.49 g/t hit contained intervals of visible gold and eye-popping bonanza-grade veins including 0.44m grading 127.61 g/t and 0.7m going 143.56 g/t.
Assay results for two RC holes at Mandilla East are still pending.
At Mandilla South, assay results for 27 RC holes are in with notable intercepts including 10m going 1.30g/t from 86 metres and 7m at 1.68g/t from 68m. The highest grade is 3m at 2.56g/t from 82m. The company is waiting on 1546m of drill samples at the lab along with assays from another ten RC holes that tested a supergene target to the south-east, all of which means things could get interesting quickly for Anglo at Mandilla South.
The company revealed a 500,000-ounce maiden mineral resource at Mandilla in May and it says recent geotechnical findings regarding the pit wall angles are expected to increase that number. Assay results from the 21 holes at Mandilla East extend the strike length by 300m to the south-east and the company says this has the potential to add significantly to the previously declared resource.
Anglo Australian Resources Managing Director, Marc Ducler said: “These intersections, combined with the high success rate of drilling completed over the south-eastern extension of Mandilla East, are also likely to add significantly to the MRE.”
The recent drilling campaign is filling in the gaps between the Mandilla South and Mandilla East deposits and further extending Mandilla East with its broad intercepts of gold in every direction. The diamond drilling results showing quartz veining and stockworks with visible gold and higher grades at depth just might have some of the neighbours looking over the fence.
The impact of the swath of results should be known soon with the company expecting to have the updated mineral resource estimate completed in August, so watch this space.
Anglo plans to fire up the drills again with both RC and diamond rigs to hit the ground next month at Mandilla and further aircore drilling is planned for the December quarter. The company is also starting to plan a drilling blitz across Mandilla for the 2022 financial year.
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By Matt Birney
