Eagle Mountain Mining Going Underground at Oracle Ridge
THE CONFERENCE CALLER: Eagle Mountain Mining (ASX: EM2) had punters queuing at its 2022 RIU Explorers Conference booth after announcing its plan to recommission parts of the existing underground mine at the company’s 100 per cent-owned Oracle Ridge project in Arizona, USA.
Eagle Mountain explained its reasoning behind the decision being that by accessing the existing Oracle Ridge underground mine it would be able to drill from underground, gaining improved access for future studies.
Indicated benefits include shorter drill holes that will increase productivity and reduce costs and faster upgrading of the Mineral Resource Estimate (MRE) to increase the Measured and Indicated resource categories.
“Drilling from underground will be a massive step-change for our exploration and move us closer to feasibility studies,” Eagle Mountain Mining CEO Tim Mason said in the company’s ASX announcement.
“We are very fortunate to have an existing underground mine in very good condition with development in the right location to continue to build and upgrade our Mineral Resources.
“We don’t need to de-water the mine to access the drill sites and rehabilitation is expected to be relatively minor.
“Along with drilling shorter holes, it also enables better access to the orebody for taking bulk samples for metallurgical test work for optimisation of processing design and recoveries.
“Importantly, two drill rigs will continue to focus on resource expansion and upgrade drilling at the Talon as results have demonstrated the growth potential of the Resource.
“Given the large number of assays pending (56 holes), results will continue to be received whilst we recommission the underground mine.
“With the reduction of one drill rig and the recommissioning of the mine, we do not expect a significant impact on our rate of expenditure.
“However, it is setting us up for the future with drill platforms to efficiently build out the resource and potentially install a drill drive to the south into the Talon zone which is growing with almost every drill hole.
“We are currently in discussions with underground drilling contractors, and we are working to secure a drill rig for mobilisation around Q3 2022.”
Email: info@eaglemountain.com.au