Horizon Minerals Limited: Boorara Drilling Commences Ahead of Staged Mining
Perth, Australia - Horizon Minerals Ltd. (ASX:HRZ) (Horizon) is pleased to advise that it has commenced an 18,000m grade control drilling program at its 100% owned Boorara gold project 10km east of Kalgoorlie-Boulder in the Western Australian goldfields.HIGHLIGHTS
- Grade control drilling program commenced at the 100% owned Boorara gold project, 10km east of Kalgoorlie-Boulder in the Western Australian goldfields
- Program comprises 18,000m of drilling at the Regal, Royal and Crown Jewel lodes on an average 10m by 5m drill pattern to a maximum depth of 60m
- Drilling designed to generate a detailed grade control geological model to enable a mining inventory to be established which will underpin staged mining and toll milling in parallel with standalone development feasibility studies
- The current Mineral Resource for Boorara stands at 16.45Mt @ 0.96g/t Au for 507,000oz at a 0.5g/t lower grade cut-off grade
- The small open pit trial conducted in 2016 produced 1,550oz from the mining and toll treatment of 30,239t of oxide ore with a mill reconciled grade of 1.73g/t Au and 91% metallurgical recovery
- This trial was in line with the grade control modelled grade of 1.8g/t Au and significantly above the resource block model at 1g/t Au
- Drilling results are expected early in the March Quarter 2020 and will be used to compile a grade control model ahead of optimisation and mine design
- Discussions with potential third party toll mills close to Boorara have progressed with the aim of securing a mill allocation commencing in the June Quarter 2020
- An updated Mineral Resource estimate for Boorara will also be completed as part of the consolidated feasibility study due for completion in the June Quarter 2020 3
Commenting on the Boorara drilling, Horizon Managing Director Mr Jon Price said:
"The initial trial pit completed in 2016 produced a significant uplift in grade when compared to the global resource model and demonstrated the importance of the infill grade control drilling in understanding the multiple vein arrays and nugget effect within this large mineralised system."
"In parallel with the consolidated feasibility study currently underway for a standalone development, our prime location provides us with the opportunity to assess mining and toll milling pathways for earlier cash generation to take advantage of the current high gold price environment."
Drilling Program
The 18,000m drilling program will be undertaken on a close spaced grade control density pattern of 10m by 5m in the Regal and Crown Jewel areas, and a 10m by 4m spacing at Royal, with holes ranging in depth from 10m to 60m (Figures 2 and 3). Samples will be collected at 1m intervals to generate a grade control block model to feed into open pit optimisation and designs, and generate a mining inventory for at least two Stage 1 open pits. The increased drilling and data density shall give increased grade and economic confidence prior to commencing open pit mining, with subsequent treatment at a nearby third party toll treatment facility allowing fully reconciled ore parcels to compare with the resource model. Toll treatment discussions are well advanced with first ore treatment slated for the June 2020 quarter.
Boorara Trial Open Pit
A small scale trial pit to 20m depth was mined in the Royal (previously Southern Stockwork) area at Boorara in 2016, with ore up to 15m wide mined on 2.5m high flitches 1. A close spaced grade control program undertaken prior to mining yielded planned trial pit grades well above the in-situ resource grade of 1g/t 2. Ore mined from the trial pit was processed at FMR Investments' Greenfields Mill which reconciled at 30,239 tonnes at 1.73g/t of high grade ore, with an additional 13,095 tonnes at 0.68g/t of low grade still stockpiled at Boorara.
Next Steps
Grade control program completed in the December 2019 quarter, assays received and generation of a grade control resource model in the March 2019 quarter for subsequent preparation of mine optimisation and design.
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About Horizon Minerals Limited:
Horizon Minerals Ltd. (ASX:HRZ) is a gold exploration and mining company focussed on the Kalgoorlie and Menzies areas of Western Australia which are host to some of Australia's richest gold deposits. The Company is developing a mining pipeline of projects to generate cash and self-fund aggressive exploration, mine developments and further acquisitions. The Teal gold mine has been recently completed.
Horizon is aiming to significantly grow its JORC-Compliant Mineral Resources, complete definitive feasibility studies on core high grade open cut and underground projects and build a sustainable development pipeline.
Horizon has a number of joint ventures in place across multiple commodities and regions of Australia providing exposure to Vanadium, Copper, PGE's, Gold and Nickel/Cobalt. Our quality joint venture partners are earning in to our project areas by spending over $20 million over 5 years enabling focus on the gold business while maintaining upside leverage.
Source:
Horizon Minerals Ltd.
Contact:
Jon Price Managing Director Tel: +61-8-9386-9534 E: jon.price@horizonminerals.com.au Michael Vaughan Media Relations - Fivemark Partners Tel: +61-422-602-720 E: michael.vaughan@fivemark.com.au