PNG’s Woodlark resource increased to 1.67Moz
Exploration and development company Geopacific Resources has announced a new mineral resource estimate for the Woodlark gold project, in Papua New Guinea.
The Woodlark resource now stands at 1.67-million ounces of gold, an increase of 103 000 oz, comprising 48.3-million tonnes at 1.07 g/t, with 86.6% in the higher-confidence measured and indicated categories.
The increase comes from two surface satellite gold deposits, Great Northern and Wayai Creek. Both are hosted within existing mineralised camps; Great Northern to the north-east of Kulumadau, and Wayai Creek south-west of Woodlark King.
“This latest increase in mineral resources follows the recent scoping study that demonstrates the project is capable of generating strong financial returns for its stakeholders over a long-life operation.
“The addition of new gold resources at Great Northern and Wayai Creek, highlights the potential to enhance the overall project value at Woodlark,” comments CEO James Fox.
He adds that several technical and environmental studies to support project development are under way. Planning for a new drill campaign is also being progressed to target extensions to known, high-grade, near-surface mineralisation with substantial resource growth potential.
The July scoping study, which was based on a 1.56-million-ounce project, highlighted that strong economics, with a pretax net present value at an 8% discount rate of A$625-million (post-tax A$501-million) at a gold price of A$2 900/oz, which represents a 17% discount to the spot price.
Average gold production is expected to be about 95 000 oz/y, delivered by conventional carbon-in-leach processing with an average 90.1% gold recovery.
Source: https://www.miningweekly.com/