Karora Resources Inc (TSE:KRR) (OTCMKTS:KRRGF) (FRA:5RN1), the Australia-focused gold miner, said it was 'excited' to have made another discovery of coarse gold at its Beta Hunt mine.
An estimated 2,000 ounces of the yellow metal have been hit during underground development at the mine, which is near to a previous coarse gold find and also near to the Father's Day vein discovery in 2018.
READ: Karora Resources ends third quarter with C$67.3M in cash after strong gold production in Western Australia
The miner noted, however, that this estimate should be considered as plus 10% to minus 25% in terms of accuracy, as it is based on the estimated gold content for each of the samples taken and is not necessarily representative of continued mineralization.
Chief executive of the miner Paul Andre Huet noted in a statement that the find supported the firm's existing coarse gold model, which it uses to identify potential coarse gold locations.
"As we have previously stated, we do not include coarse gold in our reserves, nor do we incorporate it into our mine plan. While these occurrences are certainly welcome, they are best considered as a potential periodic significant bonus on top of our ongoing economic mine production at the base reserve grade," he explained to investors.
Huet highlighted the firm's recent track record of reducing costs and improving efficiencies, which had led to Beta Hunt providing a reliable and predictable contribution to its production profile and attracted strong institutional quality investor interest.
"We will continue with our strategy to mine Beta Hunt in a systematic, efficient manner based on our reserve grade mine plan while ensuring, through our complete extraction of the shear zone, that we do recover coarse gold occurrences in the sediment-hosted zone where they are most likely to occur," he added.
"Additionally, over the course of this year, we have proactively enhanced security protocols at Beta Hunt associated with the handling of coarse gold via immediate and secure transport for safe storage until it is processed and sold."
Looking ahead, the company boss said he looked forward to updating the market on the group's ongoing drill programs, the third-quarter financial results, and a reserve and resource update.
The coarse gold mineralization at Beta Hunt (over 1% gold) is associated with the basalt/ultramafic contact and with an interflow sediment within the Lunnon Basalt, where it intersects the main shear zones, Karora noted.
The firm's geologists have confirmed the coarse gold mineralization to be controlled by the intersection of the main mineralized shear zones (A Zone and Western Flanks) and the Lunnon interflow sediment which is a narrow, iron sulphide-rich unit that occurs around 150 metres below the ultramafic/basalt contact.
Last month, Karora reported its fifth consecutive quarter of strong gold production since it acquired the Higginsville operation in Western Australia in the summer of 2019.
The firm aims to grow output and reduce costs at its integrated Beta Hunt Gold Mine and Higginsville Gold Operations (HGO). The Higginsville facility is a low-cost 1.4 million tonnes per annum (Mtpa) processing plant which is fed at capacity from Karora's underground Beta Hunt mine and open pit Higginsville mine.
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