Red 5 Increases Darlot Reserve and Resource Estimates

THE DRILL SERGEANT: Red 5 Limited (ASX: RED) updated the JORC Code 2012-compliant Ore Reserve and Mineral Resource estimates for the company’s Darlot gold mine in Western Australia.

Red 5 has increased the contained ounces at the Darlot mine with the updated Proven and Probable Ore Reserve for the mine now totalling 2.6 million tonnes at 3.3 grams per tonne gold for 275,000 ounces of contained gold.

This represents a 26 per cent increase in contained ounces for Darlot since 30 June 2019, net of mining depletion of 37,738 ounces to 31 December 2019.

“Darlot is an exceptional gold system and our ongoing Resource and Reserve development programs are delivering growth across multiple fronts,” Red 5 managing director Mark Williams said in the company’s announcement to the Australian Securities Exchange.

“This announcement is part of a number of workstreams currently underway to progress Red 5’s Darlot Hub Mining Strategy, which is aimed at establishing a five to ten year mine life at Darlot, as a stand-alone mining operation, complementing the proposed development of King of the Hills and establishing two growth pillars of a leading mid-tier Australian gold producer.

“When Red 5 purchased the Darlot Gold Mine in 2017, the acquisition included a significant high-grade non-JORC mineral endowment that required review, confirmation and design by our Geology and Mining Engineering team before it could be included within our Resource and Reserve estimates.”

Red 5 explained that the increase in the Reserve base is due to it having completed mining studies to confirm suitable mining methods to extract gold mineralisation within the Centenary orebody along with areas that had previously been classified as sterilised and/or not economical.

“This includes areas deemed by the previous owner to have been sterilised, together with additional areas – including several oxide open pit deposits – that were modelled but never upgraded to JORC compliance,” Williams said.

“Red 5 has been working to convert these areas to Resource and Reserve status, with the work completed to date, together with extensional drilling at Lords Felsics, increasing our Reserve base by 26 per cent to 275,000 ounces and our Resource base by 16 per cent to 1.2 million ounces since the previous estimates reported as at 30 June 2019, net of the ounces produced up to 31 December 2019.”

The Ore Reserve is based on an updated Measured, Indicated and Inferred Mineral Resource for the Darlot gold mine of 10.8 million tonnes at 3.5g/t gold for 1,203,900 ounces of contained gold – representing a 16 per cent increase in contained ounces since the previous Resource estimate the company reported as at 30 June 2019 (net of mining depletion).

This Total Resource figure includes an updated underground Mineral Resource of 8.1 million tonnes at 4.3g/t gold for 1,122,000 ounces of contained gold (at a 2g/t gold cut-off grade), and a maiden open pit Mineral Resource of 2.7 million tonnes at 0.9g/t gold for 81,600 ounces of contained gold (at a 0.5g/t gold cut-off grade).

“Importantly, we also see opportunities for further growth,” Williams continued.

“We have recently increased our budget for Darlot expansion programs in FY20, committing an additional $2.3 million for Resource drilling as well as $2 million to accelerate underground mine development to access new mining areas and open up new underground exploration platforms.

“This brings our total geology budget for Darlot to $10.1 million for current financial year.

“Work programs include 12,500 metres of underground drilling and 6,000 metres of surface drilling at the Darlot mine, as well as an 11,000 metres regional drilling program, with processing studies also underway with the goal of extending our Reserve base within trucking distance of the Darlot mill.

“With the Final Feasibility Study well advanced for the establishment of a stand-alone mining and processing operation at King of the Hills, this would potentially provide Red 5 with two high-quality, long-life mining hubs in the world-class Eastern Goldfields region of Western Australia.”

 

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