Emerging gold miner Meeka Metals (ASX: MEK) has revealed a new shallow and high grade gold zone at its Murchison gold project in Western Australia, which the company says could drive a broadened open pit mining operation with corresponding improvement in economics.
More specifically, this new zone of gold lies to the west of the company’s current ‘stage 1’ oxide pit design at Turnberry South. Management believes this open pit could now be set for an expansion considering the high-grade nature and favourable width of mineralisation intercepted through drilling.
Series of significant gold hits at Turnbery South
Amongst others, notable hits from this new gold zone include 21 metres at 5.13 grams per tonne gold from 51m below surface, and 18m at 3.61g/t gold from 83m.
Another hole intersected 11m at 4.04g/t gold from 52m, including two richer intervals of 1m grading 22.5g/t gold and 2m at 7.46g/t gold.
The new results will now be incorporated into an expanded grade control model and used to update the open pit design in upcoming weeks. Meeka is also prioritising further drill testing to define the extent of this new gold zone along strike and up-dip, as part of an ongoing drilling campaign at Murchison.
Meeka Metals managing director, Tim Davidson, commented:
“We had not previously intersected this high-grade gold zone on the western side of Turnberry South due to the orientation of prior drilling. We are now prioritising drill delineation along strike to incorporate into an expanded grade control model and updated stage 1 open pit design.”
Drilling campaign at Murchison keep delivering
Separately, the company also released a string of high-grade gold hits from the eastern side of Turnberry South.
One hole returned a 4m intercept grading 11.65g/t gold from 66m, including a 1m section at 44.50g/t. Other significant results include 6m at 5.15g/t gold, 1m at 24.80g/t gold, and 8m at 2.23g/t gold.
These outcomes add to a swathe of other notable drilling results for Murchison in the past few weeks, including 10m at 15.71g/t gold at Turnberry and 16m at 9.45g/t gold at St Anne’s.
Robust project economics
Meeka’s flagship Murchison project already hosts a 1.2 million ounce mineral resource at a grade of 3.0g/t gold. It lies on granted mining leases.
The company recently unveiled the results from a definitive feasibility study for Murchison, centred on restarting the fully permitted Andy Well mill and new open pits at Turnberry and St Anne’s.
Here, a 10-year production plan was outlined with the proposed mining operation tabled to churn out up to 76,000 ounces of gold annually, with an average of 65,000 ounces per annum in the first seven years.
The study showed an undiscounted pretax free cash flow of $1 billion, a net present value (NPV) of $616 million, and an elevated internal rate of return (IRR) of 180 per cent.
First gold pour on the cards
Site activity is now accelerating with open pit mining having already commenced in February and process plant commissioning set for the June quarter. First gold production at Muchison is projected for mid-2025.