Kidman acquired the Burbank’s mine in May this year and immediately set about establishing an initial Mineral Resource as part of its process of bringing Burbank’s into production in the September quarter.
The company has already commenced an extensive RC (3600m) and diamond (7500m) drilling program which aims to upgrade this resource further. Milling of gold ore from underground is now scheduled to commence early in September as planned at the time of the acquisition.
About 80% of this Mineral Resource is contained in the Birthday Gift underground mine at Burbanks with the rest in the associated Christmas open pit. While the open pit will be an additional source of ore from early September through to years end, all future drilling and longer term production will be underground.
The Mineral Resource, which was estimated by independent consultant Mining Plus Pty Ltd, was based on the 5,612m Reverse Circulation drilling programme completed by Kidman since it acquired Burbanks in May this year as well as the project’s historic drilling data base.
Kidman is already well advanced with another RC drilling program 75% complete and will continue to assess the Mineral Resource once the results are available. In addition to this, an extensive 7,500m underground diamond drilling program will start early in September from the 1280 level with a view to further increasing the Mineral Resource.
The initial Resource estimate follows Kidman’s agreement earlier this month to lease and operate the Burbanks processing plant owned by Ramelius Resources. This agreement has resulted in Kidman succeeding in re-creating Burbanks as a stand-alone operation.
Kidman has also estimated an Exploration Target of 80,000-120,000oz. The potential quantity and grade of the Exploration Target is conceptual in nature and at this stage there is insufficient data to include this target within the defined Mineral Resource. It is uncertain if further exploration will result in the determination of an addition to the Mineral Resource of Burbanks.
The Exploration Target has integrated the newly interpreted structural model that involved a mapping campaign within the Birthday Gift Underground Operations as well as a review of the production figures and exploration activities historically completed in the Burbanks Mining centre.
The newly established mineralisation model has shown that multiple lodes at the Burbanks Mine are yet to be fully delineated and with a methodical drill programme further ounce additions may be established.
In the underground mine, development has been completed and services are well established on the 1280L. This is the primary location for the initial phase of the 7500m underground drilling program due to commence in the first week of September 2015.
