Bardoc Gold advances development underpinned by mineral resource upgrade and strong drill results

Bardoc Gold Ltd (ASX:BDC) is closing-in on development of its new long-life Bardoc Gold Project near Kalgoorlie following strong progress with development studies, an upgraded mineral resource and drilling success. The mineral resource has upgraded 171,000 ounces to higher measured and indicated categories with Bardoc now hosting 3.3 million ounces with 1.948 million ounces in the higher confidence categories, and including an ore reserve of 790,000 ounces. A new +40,000 metres drilling program that is underway to target new exploration breakthroughs outside the current resource inventory is expected to add further value to the company’s long-term development. “Road map to production” Bardoc Gold CEO Robert Ryan said the continued de-risking of the Bardoc Gold Project over the September quarter coupled with the latest drilling and optimisation results putting the project on a road map to production. He said: “This has been a very active quarter for Bardoc Gold, with the completion of a number of key de-risking activities for the project, culminating in the updated resource statement. “The updated resource statement will underpin the DFS as we look to build upon the current 790,000-ounce ore reserve. “In parallel with the completion of this study, we have also kicked off a major 40,000-metre drilling program at the Bardoc Gold Project aimed at delivering new discoveries outside of the known zones of mineralisation. “Also, the recent exploration success at Zoroastrian shows there is immense opportunity to continue to expand on the current resource and provide mine-life well beyond the current mine plan.” Zoroastrian Deposit Diamond core drilling commenced at the cornerstone Zoroastrian Deposit (a current resource of 526,000 ounces) in September and has extended the mineralisation further to the north outside of the current mineral resource model and provided the impetus to expedite a diamond core rig to site to further evaluate this emerging area. New results include: 89 metres at 1.43 g/t from 192 metres including 8 metres at 3.35 g/t from 193 metres and 13 metres at 2.19 g/t from 252 metres; 11 metres at 3.08 g/t from 190 metres and 8 metres at 2.90 g/t from 156 metres; 11 metres at 4.69 g/t from 237 metres including 6 metres at 6.78 g/t from 239 metres; and 34 metres at 2.51 g/t from 81 metres including 12 metres at 4.11 g/t from 100 metres. The standout 89-metre intercept is the broadest zone of mineralisation recorded at Zoroastrian and highlights that the cornerstone deposit still has areas that can yield significant widths of strong gold mineralisation, providing considerable upside for future mining and exploration activities. Zoroastrian 6643020mN Cross-Section, +/-15 metres, looking north Aphrodite Deposit The Aphrodite deposit has total ore reserves of 500,000 ounces, comprising open pit reserves of 2.83 million tonnes at 2.3 g/t for 210,000 ounces and underground reserves of 2.38 million tonnes at 3.7g/t for 290,000 ounces. The deposit consists of multiple lodes – Alpha, Phi, Epsilon, Sigma and Omega – with recent results from the Omega Lode including: 37 metres at 6.21 g/t from 90 metres including 13 metres at 10.94 g/t from 90 metres; and 7 metres at 8.95 g/t including 4 metres at 15.07 g/t from 132 metres. There are large untested areas at Aphrodite and the company is confident that these results confirm there are still discoveries to be made that will positively impact the DFS plans. Follow-up drilling is planned to fully test the lateral extents of this mineralisation and will be undertaken in coming months. Excelsior Deposit The RC infill drilling program at the Excelsior deposit (320,000 ounces) during the quarter was designed to upgrade areas of the mineral resource from inferred to indicated status, to make them available for conversion to ore reserves. Results included: 19 metres at 2 g/t from 160 metres; 24 metres at 1.44 g/t from 80 metres including 10 metres at 2.14 g/t from 87 metres; and 76 metres at 0.89 g/t from 173 metres including 11 metres at 1.20 g/t from 197 metres, 10 metres at 1.98 g/t from 215 metres and 6 metres at 1.93 g/t from 232 metres. Aphrodite Phi and Omega Lode cross-section 6659570mN, +/- 20 metres, looking north Gold concentrate offtake Bardoc remains on track to finalise offtake term sheet discussions and negotiations in December 2020. Ryan said: “As we move into the final stages of the metallurgical test work, we look forward to negotiating the final offtake agreement for the gold concentrate throughout November and December. “This will enable the company to update the final DFS in the March quarter 2021. “We have also made strong progress during the Quarter towards the completion of the definitive feasibility study, with indicative term sheets received for product offtake, mine optimisation and design work well advanced, and extensive progress made on our metallurgical test-work programs.” Long-life mining operation At the end of the June quarter, the company held cash reserves of A$29.4 million and in early July, had completed a $24 million institutional capital raising which substantially de-risked the project pathway to production. The funds will be used to fast-track the DFS and mining studies as well as accelerate exploration work across the company’s tenements with a view to further expanding and upgrading the existing mineral resource. Ryan said: “Bardoc holds a large tenement portfolio within the North Kalgoorlie region, with significant areas remaining largely untested. “We are very much looking forward to progressively testing these areas over the coming months as we continue to build a large-scale, long-life mining operation.”