Blackham Increases Regent Resource
Perth, April 2, 2012 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Blackham Resources Ltd (
ASX:BLK) contracted independent geological consultant Runge Ltd to carry out a review and estimate of the mineral resource for the Regent gold deposit near Wiluna, Western Australia. The Regent deposit now has an inferred resource of 3.5Mt at 2.1g/t for 237,000oz of gold. Blackham has reviewed pit optimisation and reserve reports for the Regent deposit prepared by the previous owners and intends to update mining studies for this deposit at current gold prices and cost parameters.
Blackham's revised gold resources at the Matilda Gold Project are summarised below. Blackham's exploration work is targeting previously defined deposits which are most likely to be converted to reserves in the near term.
Table 1: Matilda Gold Project Resource Estimates------------------------------------------------- InferredMining Centre Tonnes Au (g/t) Oz. Au-------------------------------------------------Williamson Mine 6,001,000 1.9 364,000Regent 3,505,000 2.1 237,000Matilda Mine 2,067,000 1.2 79,000Galaxy 884,000 2.7 77,000TOTAL 12,457,000 1.9 757,000-------------------------------------------------
Rounding errors may occur - grades to 2 significant digits in this table.
Blackham recently completed its maiden 2,000m drill program at the Matilda Mine Centre where it targeted shallow oxide mineralisation along strike from the existing pits. A further 2,000m RC drill program is planned to start next week.
Regent Resource Update
Blackham contracted independent geological consultant Runge Ltd to carry out a review and estimate of the mineral resource for the Regent gold deposit near Wiluna, Western Australia.
The results of this work are summarised in Table 2.
Table 2: Regent March 2012 Mineral Resource Estimate (0.75g/t Cut-off)
----------------------------------------------------- Inferred Resource-----------------------------------------------------Mineralisation Type Tonnes g/t Au Au t g/t Ounces-----------------------------------------------------Oxide 474,000 2.1 31,000Transitional 624,000 1.7 34,000Fresh 2,407,000 2.2 172,000Total 3,505,000 2.1 237,000-----------------------------------------------------Note: Totals may differ due to rounding errors
The Mineral Resource estimate complies with recommendations in the Australasian Code for Reporting of Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves (2004) by the Joint Ore Reserves Committee (JORC). The defined resource area has a total of 115 drill holes and 20,595m of drilling including 43 diamond, 51 RC and 21 aircore holes. Blackham is currently reviewing the QA/QC and data validation for the existing drill database to determine whether part of the resource can be increased in confidence to an indicated level.
Regent Open Pit Economics
Previous owners of the Regent deposit looked at the economics of mining the deposit by open pit methods. It was last assessed in June 2006 and it was concluded it was likely to be economic above a gold price of A$700/oz. Figure 2 below illustrates some of the previous pit shells and the increase pit shell size as the gold price moved from A$595/oz to A$750/oz. Blackham plans to re-assess the economics of an open pit under current gold price and cost parameters. Management also believe there is potential for exploiting the down plunge extension of the resource by underground mining methods.
Background
Blackham acquired the Matilda Gold Project in November 2011, including the Matilda and Williamson Gold Mines and numerous other deposits and prospects. The project covers over 600km2 surrounding the operating Wiluna Gold Mine owned by Apex Minerals NL. This region has produced over 4 million ounces of gold. The current Wiluna Gold Mine resource is 12.7 Mt at 5.4g/t gold (as reported by Apex Minerals NL in their 2011 annual Report).
The Regent gold resource represents a well-defined zone of gold mineralisation. The main lode is very regular in geometry and is open down dip. Although the fault lode is narrow and changes strike direction, it appears to be well defined and robust. The deposit appears to have potential for profitable exploitation by open cut and/or underground mining.
About Wiluna Mining Corporation Ltd
Wiluna Mining Corporation (ASX:WMC) (OTCMKTS:WMXCF) is a Perth based, ASX listed gold mining company that controls over 1,600 square kilometres of the Yilgarn Craton in the Northern Goldfields of WA. The Yilgarn Craton has a historic and current gold endowment of over 380 million ounces, making it one of most prolific gold regions in the world. The Company owns 100% of the Wiluna Gold Operation which has a defined resource of 8.04M oz at 1.67 g/t au. In May 2019, a new highly skilled management team took control of the Company with a clear plan to leverage the Wiluna Gold Operation's multi-million-ounce potential.
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