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Stonewall Resources’ drilling reveals gold mining potential at Theta Hill

Published: 15:34 21 Dec 2017 AEDT

drill rig at work
Focus is on potential open‐ cut, oxide gold resources

Stonewall Resources Ltd (ASX:SWJ) has confirmed high-grade gold at shallow depths from its first round of drilling at the Theta Hill project in South Africa.

Highlights include 2 metres at 16.5 g/t gold from 25 metres, 16 metres at 2 g/t gold from 22 metres and 5 metres at 6 g/t gold from 11 metres.

READ: Stonewall Resources starts drilling gold reefs in South Africa

Rob Thomson, managing director, said: “The initial results at Theta Hill are highly encouraging, with shallow, high grades confirmed validating our geological modelling.

“The focus here is on potential open‐ cut, oxide gold resources adjacent to the CIL plant, which may be developed quickly, providing cashflow for development of our underground mines such as Rietfontein.

“We look forward to conducting further drilling and work on mine planning into 2018, and will update the market on this strategy further in coming weeks”

Focus on growing the high-grade gold resource at TGME

Theta Hill is part of Stonewall’s TGME project which contains 26.6 million tonnes grading 4.34 g/t gold for 3.7 million ounces of gold.

The company’s focus at TGME is growing the high-grade resource base with forecast gold production from fully permitted mines to begin within 12-18 months of project financing.

READ: Stonewall Resources taps market for near-term gold production

A total of 613 metres were recently drilled for 11 holes aimed to intersect the Bevett’s, Upper Theta, Lower Theta and Beta Reefs.  

The assay results from the first 10 holes have confirmed high‐grade, gold‐bearing reef at shallow depth.

Potential open‐cut mining of shallow high-grade resources

Stonewall is planning to follow‐up the intercepts with diamond drilling to better ascertain the true reef grades and widths along with conducting metallurgical testwork.

Overall, the results from the preliminary drilling is encouraging, with numerous holes intersecting the primary Lower Theta reef target with potential true reef grades of up to 55 g/t gold postulated.

A review of the geological model, following assay results, is underway to integrate all the available information and assist with planning the next stage of work.

Stonewall’s follow‐up drilling is aimed at an updated JORC resource, and ultimately, mine planning and scheduling with a view to potential open‐cut mining of shallow high grade resources.

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