High-grade drilling results from two gold mines as part of Genesis Minerals’ Leonora operations in Western Australia are set to underpin increased mining and production rates while maintaining long mine lives.
Genesis drilled 300m down dip below the current stoping front at the Gwalia underground mine, returning “significant, high-grade intercepts” that will underpin the next seven years of production and will likely extend the orebody to the north. These extensional results include 2.2m at 53.9 grams per tonne (g/t) and 2.7m at 25.7g/t.
Genesis will continue drilling Gwalia with two diamond rigs to ‘future-proof’ the long-term mine plan and test further extensional opportunities, including the upper levels.
Genesis has also found success at its Admiral open pit mine, where recent drilling results such as 19m at 8g/t have confirmed “high grade, thick intercepts” and have delivered a “significant increase” in grade, rising from 1.3g/t to 3g/t at the base of the planned pit.
Genesis said the results represent “a strong pipeline of organic growth opportunities” that will help it achieve its five-year plan, which will see Genesis increase production from its operations from 140,000 ounces (oz) in the 2023–24 financial year (FY24) to 325,000oz in FY29.
“Organic growth is at the centre of our strategy to maximise shareholder returns,” Genesis managing director Raleigh Finlayson said.
“These strong drilling results support that strategy because they demonstrate the scope to steadily convert resources to reserves over the five-year growth plan. This will make our mine plans even more robust, paving the way for higher mined grades and increased mining rates, all of which will help accelerate the planned organic growth to 325,000oz and beyond.
“As a result, we not only deliver rapid growth in production and cashflow, but we also future-proof our operations in a way which reduces risk while increasing returns.”
Elsewhere at the Bardoc gold project, Genesis has commenced a program to test gaps at the Aphrodite deposit, which currently holds 1.7Moz in gold resources. The program will also test possible extensions and new parallel structures.
Subscribe to Australian Mining and receive the latest news on product announcements, industry developments, commodities and more.
