Magnetic Resources NL (ASX:MAU) (Magnetic or the Company) has announced Increased Lady Julie Gold Project Resource and Project Update.
HIGHLIGHTS
Magnetic Resources is pleased to provide an update to its flagship Lady Julie Gold Project (LJGP), an exciting new gold development currently in an advanced Feasibility stage. The project is located near Laverton in WA and will comprise three open pits, a CIL processing plant and all associated infrastructure. The updated Combined Mineral Resources Estimate (Table 1) for LJGP: 28.11 Mt at 1.93g/t Au containing 1.75Moz of gold at 0.5/1.5g/t cutoffs1. 75% of the combined resource is now in Indicated category (previously 68%). The updated Combined Laverton Region Mineral Resource Estimate (Table 1): 33.14 Mt at 1.81g/t Au containing 1.93Moz of gold at 0.5/1.5g/t cutoffs1. On the basis of the strong resource development below the planned open pit, a scoping exercise has been completed to study the potential for operating an underground mine concurrently with the open pit. The study found that a concurrent underground operation producing 550,000tpa of higher-grade ore would add significantly to project value, with total output of 150,000oz pa over an 8-year project life. Commencement of underground access development would be scheduled for year two to minimize the potential for disruption of the main part of the project. More detailed design of access, stoping and fill systems will commence in late January 2025. As a result of this scoping exercise, the processing plant design capacity is being boosted to 2.75Mtpa to treat a combined open pit/underground feed. A key change with the scale increase will be in comminution where a ball/SAG mill circuit is now proposed in place of multistage crushing/ball mill. The plant design and costing will be completed in early February. Metallurgical testwork is continuing to optimize the treatment process with differing lithology units. A Mining Proposal has been submitted to DEMIRS for approval. The proposal is in support of the application for two new Mining leases and a new Miscellaneous lease covering the remainder of the project footprint (see Figure 1). The combined project area of 1,424Ha is now under application.Note 1:
The cutoff grade is considered appropriate for a large-scale open pit operation and in the case of LJN4, is applied to a depth of 400m below surface. It should be noted that the pit resource does not consider any restraining factors which may influence the final pit design in the feasibility study.
The mineralisation deeper than 400m below surface shows strong continuity and therefore is amenable to underground mining. On the basis of a gold price of A$3600/oz and economic modelling of an underground operation, a cutoff grade of 1.5g/t Au is considered appropriate and has been applied to this portion of the model. As above, constraints applied to a pit design at Feasibility may lead to an increase in the resource available for underground extraction.
The verification and reporting of Mineral Resources on behalf of the Company was completed by its JORC Competent Person, Mr. M Edwards of Blue Cap Mining. The Mineral Resources Estimate has been prepared and reported in accordance with the 2012 Edition of the JORC Code.
Managing Director George Sakalidis commented:
“The LJN4 resource has been the Company’s primary drilling focus over recent months with the completion of infill drilling and some extension drilling at depth in the northern part of LJN4, which consists of thick strongly altered zones mainly associated with intensely fuchsite altered ultramafic rock types.
Two deeper holes are being planned testing for deeper extensions of the main ultramafic-hosted lodes, which are still open at depth and one deeper hole beneath the southern breccia- silica-pyrite lode. The LJN4 deposit sits within a regional structure called the Chatterbox Shear Zone that extends over 12km in length within the Magnetic tenements and remains as a prospective target zone where RC drilling has been recently completed.
The Lady Julie Gold Project Pre-Feasibility Study was released to the ASX on 7 March 2024. The project now envisaged and advanced planning is at a scale to provide more credibility to the wider industry and offer more substantial value to shareholders.
Most of the background work has now been completed to take this to feasibility study level of accuracy. The submission of a Mining Proposal and application for Mining Leases are key steps in the regulatory approval process.”
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