Doray Minerals completes Judy Lode maiden resource
THE DRILL SERGEANT: Doray Minerals (ASX: DRM) has announced a maiden, high-grade JORC-compliant gold resource for the Judy Lode, situated adjacent to the current Wilber Lode mining operations within the company’s Andy Well gold project in Western Australia.
The new Judy Lode resource follows a recent RC drilling campaign and is the second high-grade gold resource to be defined within the Andy Well project by Doray.
Long section of Judy Lode, showing the resource outline and highlighting recent drilling results. Source: Company announcement
The Judy Lode resources measures 225,000 tonnes at 9.7 grams per tonne gold for 70,000 ounces in the indicated catergory, 168,000 tonne at 6.7g/t gold for 36,000 ounces in the inferred category for a total of 393,000 tonnes at 8.4g/t gold for 106,000 ounces of gold.
Doray said the total resource includes the Judy South zone (137,000t at 19.3g/t gold for 85,000 ounces), which makes up approximately 80 per cent of the total contained ounces.
“This new high-grade Judy Lode resource, in close proximity to the future underground Wilber Lode mining operations, has the potential to add to the initial 3.7 year mine life indicated by the Bankable Feasibility Study completed in the middle of 2012,” Doray Minerals managing director Allan Kelly said in the company’s announcement to the Australian Securities Exchange.
“Before we have commenced underground mining of the Wilber Lode, we have been able to discover and drill out a second high-grade gold resource from surface.
“Importantly, based on our experience so far and, given the nature of the Judy Lode mineralisation, we believe we should be able to again achieve a high conversion rate from resource to reserve at Judy.
“This should then translate into an increased mine life at Andy Well to almost five years.”
The estimation of the Judy Lode resource increases the total Andy Well resource to 1.22 million tonnes at 11.3g/t gold for 444,000 contained ounces.
Kelly also indicated the recent drilling had provided evidence to the company for further extensions to the Wilber Lode deposit.
Between December 2012 and February 2013, Doray completed RC drilling across the Judy structure, which the company said highlighted a southerly plunge to the mineralisation, which remains open at depth and along strike south of the Judy South zone.
The company indicated other drilling conducted in the Judy South area intersected the interpreted southern extension of the Wilber Lode.
Results from this drilling include:
– 2 metres at 15.9g/t gold from 53m; and
– 1m at 13.4g/t gold from 52m.
These results extend the known Wilber mineralisation by a further 300m south of the currently defined Wilber Lode Resource area.
Doray said the latest drilling results point to the probability of a second underground mining operation at Judy.
This area is now considered by the company to be a priority exploration target for further drilling.