- Silver Lake Resources (SLR) has increased the mineral resource and ore reserve at the Deflector Gold Copper Project in Western Australia
- The Deflector Mineral Resource has increased by 54 per cent, or 80 per cent after FY20 mine depletion, to 1.27 million ounces
- The resource grade has increased by 18 per cent to 13.5g/t
- Ore reserves have increased to 2.2 million tonnes at 6.3g/t gold and 0.3 per cent copper for 447,000 ounces gold and 7000 tonnes of copper
- This marks a 30 per cent year-on-year increase, or 102 per cent after FY20 mine depletion
- Looking ahead, Silver Lake Resources will focus on infilling the existing mineral resource and extending high-grade gold-copper lodes
- Company shares are up 5.75 per cent and are trading for $2.39 each just before midday trade
Silver Lake Resources (SLR) has increased the mineral resource and ore reserve at the Deflector Gold Copper Project in Western Australia.
The Deflector Mineral Resource has increased by 54 per cent, or 80 per cent after FY20 mine depletion, to 1.27 million ounces. The resource grade has increased by 18 per cent to 13.5g/t.
Importantly, Silver Lake has also increased the measured and indicated resources by 33 per cent, or 65 per cent after FY20 mine depletion, to 849,000 ounces. The Measured and Indicated Resource grades increased by 24 per cent to 15.4g/t.
Ore reserves
Additionally, the ore reserves have increased to 2.2 million tonnes at 6.3g/t gold and 0.3 per cent copper for 447,000 ounces gold and 7000 tonnes of copper. This marks a 30 per cent year-on-year increase, or 102 per cent after FY20 mine depletion. The 6.3g/t ore grade has increased by 15 per cent which highlights the higher tenor of the Western and Deflector South West (DSW) lodes.
This increase reflects the expanded orebody knowledge and data that the company gained from three years of underground mining and advanced development.
The data also provided the necessary drill positions for Silver Lake to define lode structures and extensions.
The Deflector Mine
The Deflector Mine is a relatively early stage and shallow underground mine. So far, only two full years of underground drilling has been completed at Deflector. This supports the potential for further lode extensions and discoveries as the mineral resource remains open in multiple directions.
The Deflector Ore Reserve and Mineral Resource Estimate incorporated drilling completed throughout the 2020 financial year up until May this year.
A total of 21,863 metres of drilling was completed across 78 holes. Out of these, 16,540 metres for 66 holes was completed at the DSW lode.
Hole DFUG192 was a particularly outstanding hole, which intersected 7.4 metres at 98.7g/t gold and 11.1 per cent copper. This is the southernmost underground exploration hole drilled at Deflector to date.
The high-grade results from this hole supports the potential for further extensions and conversion of the mineral resources to the south, west, up dip and down dip of the existing mineral resource.
Looking ahead, Silver Lake Resources will focus on infilling the existing mineral resource and extending high-grade gold-copper lodes. The company will also conduct limited surface drilling aimed at identifying potential extensions to the DSW high-grade gold-copper lodes.
Company shares are up 5.75 per cent and are trading for $2.39 each just before midday trade.