JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) - As a result of an additional 15 684 m of diamond drilling at dual-listed Cardinal Resources' Namdini gold project, in Ghana, the company has converted its inferred category ounces into the indicated mineral resource category, which now stands at 6.5-million ounces, contained in 180-million tonnes.
This translated to 1.13 g/t, with a cut-off grade of 0.5 g/t
Cardinal CEO Archie Koimtsidis highlighted on Monday that the intensive infill drilling campaign has significantly upgraded the company's confidence in the Namdini deposit, with the overall lift in indicated mineral resources from 4.3-million ounces to 6.5-million ounces.
"Namdini can continue to grow with more drilling, given it remains open both along strike and down dip, with mineralisation intersected down to 650 vertical metres, and still open," he added.
With the majority of the resource being continuous from surface to a vertical depth of 400 m, Cardinal anticipates a conversion of mineral resources to ore reserves within a simple, single, large-scale openpit, with a very low strip ratio of 1.2:1 over the life-of-mine as the preferred mining method.
"The higher-grade areas of the deposit, close to surface, will be targeted within the Stage 1 pit in the early years of production, as the recent results of our preliminary economic assessment study indicate this pit will be the area most likely to repay capital investment soonest," said Koimtsidis.
This pit would see about 400 000 oz to 900 000 oz produced over three to four years at an average head grade of 1.3 g/t to 1.5 g/t.