Barra Resources Initiates Burbank Mining Study on Back of Resource Upgrade
THE DRILL SERGEANT: Barra Resources (ASX: BAR) announced a maiden Inferred Mineral Resource for the Burbanks North Trend at the company’s 100 per cent-owned Burbanks gold project, south of Coolgardie in Western Australia.
Barra Resources reported the Inferred Mineral Resource of approximately 20,400 ounces at 1.76 grams per tonne gold in accordance with the 2012 JORC Code.
The Burbanks North Trend is located just 700 metres north of the company’s Burbanks Mining Centre which includes the Birthday Gift and Main Lode Underground Mines and several open pits that are currently in care and maintenance.
Barra has been steadily increasing Mineral Resources at its Coolgardie gold projects following a strategic update to its gold strategy ahead of a sustainable re-start in mining operations.
Adding the Burbanks North Mineral Resource together with existing Resources at Birthday Gift and Main Lode, the Burbanks project total Mineral Resource now spans over 2.8 kilometres in strike length along the Burbanks Shear and is fast becoming an extensive mineralised system still with vastly untested depth potential.
Barra explained that the maiden MRE for Burbanks North adds an additional 16 per cent of Mineral Resources to the company’s Global Mineral Resource which now stands at 145,700 ounces.
“Barra’s commitment to its gold strategy to grow the Mineral Resources at Burbanks is delivering results,” Barra Resources managing director and CEO Sean Gregory said in the company’s announcement to the Australian Securities Exchange.
“With gold now trading above $2,000 per ounce and with Burbanks status as a granted mining lease, Barra now has an outstanding opportunity to consider mining options for this historically productive high-grade gold mining centre.”
The combination of an increased resource base at Burbanks and recent increases in gold prices above $2,000 per ounce has provided the impetus for Barra to commission Snowden Mining Consultants to conduct a desktop mining study to consider a near-term restart in mining operations.
The study will consider:
The potential for open pit mining at Burbanks North;
The potential to access the shallow Mineral Resource discovered at Main Lode during 2018, potentially via an underground development launched from the adjacent Christmas open pit;
Remnant Mineral Resources at Birthday Gift in the Hadfield and Dahmu lodes at level 4 and above that was accessed and developed by Kidman Resources, but never mined;
Toll treatment at one of several nearby mills; and
Dewatering solutions and ongoing reserve definition drilling, to enable future development at deeper levels.
Barra anticipates receiving results from the study during the current quarter.
The company acknowledged that further detailed studies and reserve definition drilling would then be required, but believes Burbanks has the advantage of being a granted mining lease with some approvals already in place, potentially paving the way to a rapid restart in mining operations.
Email: info@barraresources.com.au
Website: www.barraresources.com.au