Gold find boosts OceanaGold's NZ focus
news.theage.com.au
OceanaGold Corporation's renewed focus on exploration in New Zealand has been boosted by the discovery of high-grade gold mineralisation at its Frasers Underground mine in Otago.
Grades encountered in the new zone, dubbed Panel 2 Deeps, include 7.2 grams per tonne (g/t) and 39.5g/t.
Frasers Underground is OceanaGold's second gold mine in New Zealand and is part of the nation's largest gold mine, Macraes, which also has an open-cut component.
"The Panel 2 Deeps zone is open to the south and east, and information to date demonstrates that it contains a higher grade tenor than that within the current Frasers Underground reserve," the company said on Monday.
Chief executive Steve Orr said the new zone looked promising and was expected to be added to the underground reserves later this year.
"Further underground drilling is planned here and also on the down-dip extensions of Panel 2," Mr Orr said.
OceanaGold said the new zone is close to current mine workings, so the time and cost required to access it for mining is expected to be minimal.
The company plans to spend up to $NZ10 million ($A7.88 million) on exploration at its NZ projects this year, Macraes and Reefton, with the aim of discovering new resources and converting current resources to reserves.
OceanaGold's Didipio gold and copper project in The Philippines, which is partly constructed, remains under temporary care and maintenance as part of company moves to curb high-cost activities.
The miner is working on a project re-design to reduce the estimated project cost from $US320 million ($A445 million).
The project was originally forecast to cost $US155 million ($A216 million).
Shares in OceanaGold fell half a cent to 69 cents on Monday. |
