Santana Minerals (ASX/NZX:SMI) has announced promising drill results from its ongoing exploration at the Bendigo-Ophir gold project. The company is advancing towards a Pre-feasibility Study (PFS) for the project.
Rise and Shine (RAS) Deposit
New assay results from the RAS deposit have confirmed the presence of a high-grade gold core. The company highlights several intercepts including:
30.7m at 7.9g/t Au from 170.3m (true width 27.0m)
34.5m at 5.4g/t Au from 173.5m (true width 32.7m)
35.4m at 8.3g/t Au from 161.6m (true width 32.1m)
These results strengthen Santana’s confidence in the consistency of the high-grade zone and its potential for future mine planning.
Shreks (SHR) Deposit
Infill drilling at the Shreks deposit has been completed to upgrade the resource classification from Inferred to Indicated. The company aims to include SHR in the upcoming PFS. The deposit exhibits lower-grade mineralization compared to RAS but offers a low strip ratio, making it a potential complementary feed source for the mill.
Notable intercepts from the SHR deposit include:
11.0m at 2.2g/t Au from 35.0m (true width 5.6m)
10.0m at 1.0g/t Au from 28.0m (true width 6.5m)
7.0m at 4.9g/t Au from 12.0m (true width 5.6m)
These results indicate a substantial, near-surface resource at SHR.
Santana Minerals is progressing with its PFS, which will focus on extracting the high-grade core at RAS initially. The company believes that the combined potential of both RAS and SHR deposits positions it favourably for future development.
