Mandalay Resources Corporation (TSE:MND) (OTCQB:MNDJF) (FRA:R7X2) reported further drilling success at the Youle deposit at the company's Australia mine, which is likely to lead to a longer life for the asset.
Recent drilling has focused on delineating the previously reported southern high-grade zone but has also uncovered new high-grade results to the north, the company said.
READ: Mandalay Resources posts 4Q production results highlighting continued performance at Australian and Swedish gold operations
"We are encouraged by the development and confirmation of the recently discovered high-grade gold southern domain reported in October 2020," said Dominic Duffy, the chief executive at the metals miner.
"Recent drill intercepts convey a link to the current mining area, providing strong indications that the high-gold grades currently mined will continue through to this zone."
At the north of the Youle trend, holes supported a high-grade plunge extension, providing a clear target for "further focused exploration efforts and are likely to provide additional growth to Costerfield’s mine life".
Latest holes, linked to the southern area, included an assay of 94.7 grams per ton (g/t) gold and 16.4% antimony over a true width of 0.05 metres (m).
Results at the northern extent included 316.1 g/t gold and 0.1% antimony over a true width of 0.22m.
Duffy continued: "Costerfield’s 2021 forecast exploration spend of US$6.2 million is the site’s highest budget to date as the team looks to follow up on recent successes at Youle and also regionally. Imperative to the growth of Costerfield, this year’s exploration program will focus on targets below recent and historical mined deposits.”
Mandalay runs the Costerfield gold and antimony mine in Australia and the Björkdal gold mine in Sweden.
Since first ore was mined from the Youle deposit in August 2019, the deposit has been a consistent producer of high-grades.
Mandalay also noted that these latest drill intercepts at depth alongside information gained from mining throughout 2020, has provided a more detailed understanding of the dynamics of the Youle deposit.
"There are strong indicators that many of the mineralogical variations at Youle are representative of a deeper emplacement setting to that of previously mined orebodies along the central Costerfield corridor," it said.
Shares gained around 3.7% to C$2.25 each.
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