Canada-headquartered Asante Gold has extended the mineral resource estimate of Grasshopper Pit, where mining started earlier this year.
The Grasshopper Pit is on the Bibiani mining lease, in Ghana, and is located less than 2 km from the processing plant.
Backed by about 10 000 m of historical drilling and 8 800 m of recent drilling, Asante reported a constrained indicated resource of 1.88-million tonnes at 1.04 g/t for 56 500 oz of contained gold for the Grasshopper Pit.
“I am pleased to announce this resource extension and development of the Grasshopper Starter Pit. This reflects our commitment to maximising the full potential of our land position and mining operations. The results from our accelerated resource definition drilling are highly encouraging and underscore the remarkable consistency of the high tonnage mineralisation within the oxide transition material,” commented president and CEO Dave Anthony.
He noted that the majority of the mineralised material in the Grasshopper Pit was within the oxide transition zone with anticipated gold recovery exceeding 90% and a haulage distance of less than 2 km to the process plant.
Moreover, the presence of multiple shoots of mineralisation along strike and down plunge beyond the existing pit shell highlighted the promising opportunities for sustained expansion, said Anthony.
“With successful commencement of the starter pit and mining activities in the second quarter of 2023, we look forward to further strengthening our position in the market and delivering exceptional value for our shareholders and stakeholders.”