Summary
- Ora Banda Mining has been actively engaged as a gold exploration and development company at its wholly owned Davyhurt Project in the highly productive Eastern Goldfields region of Western Australia.
- Ora Banda has been progressively focusing at its deposits like Waihi, Riverina, Callion, Siberia, and Golden Eagle.
- Over the last one-year, mineral resource at the Riverina Project has increased 46% to 728Kt @ 5.9 g/ Au for 139,000 ounces.
Gold exploration and development company, Ora Banda Mining Limited (ASX:OBM) owns a significant area in the highly productive Eastern Goldfields region of Western Australia, which is a host to multiple gold deposits.
The Company’s Davyhurst Project area is the host to some of the largest deposits within the entire OBM landholding, and considerable potential remains for the discovery of new gold deposits as well as extensions to existing resources.
For the previous update at Davyhurst project, follow: Ora Banda Finalises DFS at Davyhurst Project; Results Indicate Strong Economic Returns
OBM’s immediate development focus includes the Riverina, Waihi, Siberia, Callion and Golden Eagle deposits and has been engaged towards the advancement of these high potential areas.
Here, we shall take a look at OBM’s progress at its Riverina Project, a key part of the Davyhurst Gold Project, during the last one year.
To know more about OBM’s developments at Waihi project, follow: Tracing the Progress of Ora Banda at Waihi Project in 2020
Continuation of High-Grade Assay Results at Riverina
To begin with, let’s travel back to August 2019 where the 2019 Riverina Phase 1 RC resource definition drilling program returned first results for OBM, and the results have continued to build on the previous drilling conducted between 2016 and 2018 which included hole RVDD16018 that returned 11.2 m @ 22.4 g/t from 64.2 metres.
The significant infill drilling results continued to validate and improve the open-pit mining potential at Riverina with 90% completion of the initial Riverina Phase 1 RC program.
Previous Update: Ora Banda Completes Bookbuild for Capital Raising, Looks Forward to Collectively Raising $55 Million
First Phase of Drilling at Riverina Completed
Later, in October 2019, OBM received all assay results from Phase 1 resource definition drilling at Riverina that included 80 drill holes for 6,267 metres. The drilling program was very successful and enhanced the robust nature of the gold mineralisation, as well as the subsequent underground mining potential.
Moreover, the results from drilling offered a greater geological understanding of the Riverina deposit and the way this might translate into open-pit mining, while the geologists of the Company had started working on the Mineral Resource Estimation update.
Recent Update: Ora Banda Announces $55 Million Worth of Capital Raising to Accelerate Recommencement of Production at Davyhurst Project
Significant Increase in Resource at Riverina
Ora Banda ended the year 2019 with some highly encouraging development at Riverina that laid the foundation for a strong start to 2020.
Following the successful completion of an initial 6,267-metre resource definition drilling program, the total Mineral Resource at the Riverina Project increased to 3.8Mt @ 2.3 g/t for 278k ounces of contained gold. Moreover, the increase in resource included an open pit Mineral Resource of 3.1Mt @ 1.8 g/t Au for 183 ounces of contained gold.
Importantly, as a result of the focussed infill drilling program, the Company’s Mineral Resource statement stood at 22.2Mt @ 2.6g/t for 1,850k ounces of contained gold. Moreover, the resource definition program resulted in higher confidence Measured and Indicated component increased by 106,000 ounces (246%) to 179,000 ounces.
At this time, the Company had initiated metallurgical and geotechnical studies aimed at building on the current knowledge base and a feasibility study to define the economically viable mining envelope for the proposed open pit.
Strong Results Through Results at Riverina South
In April 2020, OBM completed the Riverina South exploration program which included 32 drill holes for 3,639 metres, reaching a maximum depth of 150 metres, and received all results from the same.
The Phase 1 Exploration reverse circulation (RC) drilling program at Riverina South extended the mining potential immediately to the south of the Main Mining Area at Riverina and further enhanced the prospectively of a 1km zone.
Other historical drilling results from these areas were as follows:
- 14m @ 3.2g/t from 52m
- 4m @ 5.3g/t from 59m
- 18m @ 2.4g/t from 12m
- 4m @ 3.2g/t from 35m
The initial wide-spaced drilling results were an encouraging opportunity for OBM’s then-ongoing search for new, near-surface, oxide gold resources, and the Company had planned to commence the Phase 2 drilling program.
Interesting Read: Ora Banda Mining Announces underground Mineral Resource at Callion, Updates Total Mineral Resource to 2.13M ounces
46% Increase In Underground Mineral Resource
One of the most recent and significant development at Ora Banda’s Riverina happened most recently in June 2020.
Riverina Plan Indicating Mineralised Lodes Within the Main Mining Area (Source: Company's Report)
The underground Mineral Resource for the Riverina Project increased 46% to 728Kt @ 5.9 g/ Au for 139,000 ounces, while the Mineral Resource for open pit remains unchanged at 3.0Mt @ 1.9 g/t for 183,000 Au oz.
Ora Banda’s collective total Mineral Resource at the Riverina Project had increased by 16% to 3.7Mt @ 2.7 g/t for 322k Au ounces, and the Company’s total Mineral Resource stood at 23.3Mt @ 2.7g/t Au for 2.05M ounces.
OBM believes that the underground Resource upgrade for Riverina enhances the existing substantial resource base that was defined earlier in the area.
Complete Details at: Ora Banda Reports 46% Increase In The Underground Mineral Resource At Riverina Project
OBM has also completed a bookbuild for the capital raising of $51.7 million and looks forward to utilising the funds towards the development of its project areas including, Site infrastructure, like a storage facility, road maintenance and site accommodation, restoration and recommissioning of the processing plant, pre-production mining costs, and exploration activities.
On 14 July 2020, OBM stock closed at $0.280 with a market capitalisation of $168.23 million.
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