Drilling in the Darwin zone, at the deeper, southern end of the mine, has continued to define mineralisation beyond existing resources, headlined by a bonanza 1.5m at 79 grams per tonne from Darwin North.
Of the 90 holes drilled recently, most intersected mineralisation, one third had intervals greater than 20gpt gold metres, and 17 exceeded 50gpt gold metres.
Other assays from the recent drilling included 13.7m at 5.3gpt and 9.8 at 11gpt from Darwin North, and 12.5m at 15.5gpt and 8.9m at 24.9gpt from Darwin South. All intercepts were described as being true width.
The Darwin deposit has previously produced 645,000 ounces at an average grade of 8.6gpt at what Catalyst technical director Bruce Kay described as “attractive mining widths”.
Resources at Henty are 357,000oz at 4.45gpt, with an upward revision expected around the end of the year as part of an updated mine plan.
The miner is spending A$7 million on resource, extensional, and infill drilling this financial year as it aims to grow its gold inventory and reduce costs at the underground operation, leveraging the existing 300,000tpa plant to amortise the high percentage of fixed costs.
It has five rigs on site, four of which are underground, and are focused at Darwin, and the newly named Cradle Zone, which is about 1km-long and 400m vertically south of the Intermediate Zone, and up-dip of Zone 15, Newton and Tyndall areas.
Kay said the intercepts south of Darwin suggest the orebody continues at depth, with prospective resources close to the existing decline.
The area has not been adequately tested, but development of the deeper sections of Darwin South would enable more drilling.
Catalyst celebrated 12 months of ownership of the mine in January. It paid Pybar-linked Diversified Minerals $20 million in cash and shares for the acquisition and has already recovered the purchase price from revenue.
Production has steadily risen over the past 12 months, with 6397oz reported in the December quarter. Costs have also been trending down.
Henty sits within the rich, polymetallic Mt Read Volcanic Belt in western Tasmania that have produced over 8Moz, 1.4Moz of which has come from Henty.
Catalyst shares have traded between $1.70 and $2.40 over the past year, and were steady at
$1.90 this morning, valuing the miner at $186 million.
The stock was almost $3.20 in November 2020 off the back of its Victorian gold exploration plays.
