Alkane is pleased to provide an updated Kaiser Mineral Resource Estimate following its extensive drilling program at the Company’s Northern Molong Porphyry Project in central New South Wales. The program extended over three kilometres from Kaiser to Boda and down to Boda 2-3. The Company believes this system has the potential to be a large, tier-one gold-copper project. Alkane also operates the nearby Tomingley Gold Operations (‘Tomingley’).
Following an extensive infill drilling program, the Mineral Resource Estimate (Indicated and Inferred) for the Kaiser Deposit has been revised to:
213 Mt at 0.55g/t AuEq* for 3.74Moz AuEq* (0.28g/t Au, 0.20% Cu, 1.90Moz Au, 0.42Mt Cu)
The drilling has improved confidence, revising the Kaiser MRE with 89% of the resource now classified as Indicated and lifting gold grade by 15% and copper grade by 10%.
Including Kaiser, the Boda District has a global resource now of:
| Indicated: | 537Mt at 0.32g/t Au, 0.19% Cu (5.6Moz Au, 1.0Mt Cu) |
| Inferred: | 258Mt at 0.33g/t Au, 0.18% Cu (2.7Moz Au, 0.5Mt Cu) |
| Total: | 796Mt at 0.58g/t AuEq* for 14.7Moz AuEq* (0.33g/t Au, 0.18% Cu, 8.3Moz Au, 1.5Mt Cu) |
Substantial metallurgical testwork established a viable and simple flowsheet with overall recoveries at Kaiser of 81% for copper and 71% for gold and at Boda of 87% for copper and 81% for gold with a saleable concentrate.
The recently revised Boda District resources will be used in a scoping study for potential development. The scoping study is expected to be released in Q2 CY2024.
Drilling continues to define the overall system, with extensions being tested at depth at Boda 2-3 and across several regional targets.
Alkane Managing Director Nic Earner said: “The Kaiser resource update gives even greater confidence in the significant potential of the Northern Molong Porphyry Project.
“The definition has increased from Inferred to Indicated with increases in the gold and copper grades. The total resource contains approximately 8 million ounces of gold and 1.5 million tonnes of copper, with two-thirds classified as Indicated. This updated resource has been delivered at an overall discovery cost of less than A$4 per equivalent ounce. This compares favourably to industry averages and is a credit to the hard work of the exploration team
“We’re finalising the scoping study that outlines the economics of the Boda & Kaiser District, with potential mine plans currently being developed from the updated resources. We’re on track to have that completed in the current quarter.”
*The equivalent calculation formula is AuEq(g/t) = Au(g/t) + Cu%/100*31.1035*copper price($/t)/gold price($/oz). The prices used were 12-month averages of US$1,950/oz gold and US$8,600/t copper, and A$:US$0.67. Recoveries are estimated at 87% Cu and 81% Au for Boda, and 81% Cu and 71% Au for Kaiser from metallurgical studies. Alkane considers the elements included in the metal equivalents calculation to have a reasonable potential to be recovered and sold.