West Australian gold producer Ramelius Resources Ltd (ASX:RMS) has seen its mineral resource for the Eridanus project near Mt Magnet jump up by 64 percent – now holding 1.2 million ounces of gold – as drilling and other mining activities have enabled the Lone Pine and Theakston deposits to be brought under its umbrella.
The updated resource sits at 21 million tonnes at 1.7 grams per tonne for 1,200,000 ounces, a rise of 64% since the previous MRE in June last year, with the previous estimate of 730,000 ounces and the company’s exploration target of between 125,000 and 225,003 ounces into a unified resource.
Central to the upgrade was drilling in high grade zones, which included intersections such as 14 metres at 6.26 grams per tonne from 113 metres, 20 metres at 14.51 grams per tonne from 65 metres, and 7 metres at 9.26 grams per tonne from 141 metres.
Managing Director Mark Zeptner said the MRE revealed the importance of Eridanus within the bigger Mt Magnet gold mine project, for which Ramelius has previously released a ten-year plan.
“Today’s significant resource upgrade, both in terms of tonnes and grade, augurs well for a
mine life well beyond 10 years especially if an open pit option is ultimately chosen,” he said.
“Given the 64% increase is net of depletion and the current open pit will produce over 300,000 ounces once processed, Eridanus is set to become the third mine of more than one million ounces in the Mt Magnet field, after Hill 50 and Morning Star.
“Further drilling has the potential to increase resources again and this will commence shortly, leading into underground/open pit mining studies in the second half of the calendar year.”
Ramelius plans to roll out another drilling program of up to 10,000 metres of drilling in June, including 3,300 metres of diamond drilling, with a focus on infilling and extending mineral resources on the flanks of the current open pit, to consider the best mining options: since the increased MRE suggests that both open pit and underground options are possible.
Ramelius has been trading at $2.00