Alkane Resources’ Boda prospect in New South Wales is emerging as a future Tier-1 copper-gold project after the company unveiled a landmark resource estimate for the deposit.
Boda’s initial inferred mineral resource has been estimated at 624 million tonnes (Mt) grading at 0.51 grams per tonne (g/t) gold equivalent (AuEq) for 10.1 million AuEq ounces (5.21 million ounces gold, 0.9Mt copper).
“This initial resource begins to show the significant potential of both Boda and the larger Northern Molong porphyry project,” Alkane managing director Nic Earner said.
“Since the original drill discovery in 2019 we have steadily demonstrated that mineralisation extends over more than 3km from Boda Three to Kaiser. We are well advanced in a shallower drilling program at Kaiser-Duke that should enable an initial resource to be confirmed there.
“Alkane is planning further drilling across our tenement package and is continuing the preliminary work that is required to further understand mining and processing options for the future.”
The estimate is based on approximately 71,400m of drilling using a 0.3 g/t AuEq cut-off that’s deemed appropriate for potential open-cut mining.
Alkane also incorporated a bulk-tonnage underground mining component in the inferred resource using a 0.4 g/t AuEq cut-off grade. This resulted in a 353Mt estimate grading at 0.63 g/t AuEq for 7.1 AuEq ounces (3.72 million ounces gold, 0.62Mt Cu).
As Alkane continues to define Boda’s overall system, drilling will focus on extensions to the south of Boda at Boda Two and north-west of Boda towards the Kaiser prospect. The company will also be completing infill drilling of the inferred resource.
Preliminary metallurgical studies have indicated the potential of two-stage ore processing from Boda, with the first stage producing a copper-gold concentrate for immediate sale and the second stage producing gold bullion from a cyanide leach. Preliminary recoveries are 85 per cent for gold, copper and silver.
It comes after Alkane recently poured its 500,000th ounce of gold at its Tomingley mine in New South Wales.
Earner said the significant milestone was a fitting testament to the teams that have worked on Tomingley since Alkane’s days of discovery in the early 2000s.
“When we commenced mining at Tomingley in 2013, the plan was to produce 380,000 ounces from open cut and underground over seven years,” he said.
“We were also quietly confident that further discoveries would be made during that time to allow extension.
“Here we are, nine years later, entering our second decade of production and passing 500,000 ounces, proving that our confidence was well founded.”