Astral extends high-grade gold success at Theia
Astral Resources has returned another round of strong gold intercepts from the Theia deposit at its Mandilla Gold Project in Western Australia, with the results supporting plans to upgrade the project’s Stage 1 Mineral Resources to the Measured category.
The latest assay results cover 56 reverse circulation (RC) drill holes for 4,970 metres from the ongoing Stage 1 in-fill drilling program at Theia, approximately 70km south of Kalgoorlie.
The program is designed to increase confidence in the early mine plan by converting Stage 1 Mineral Resources to Measured status while validating the existing geological and Mineral Resource models.
Among the better intersections were 31m at 3.03 grams per tonne (g/t) gold from 12m, including 1m at 59.8g/t gold, 19m at 2.70g/t gold from 41m, including 1m at 36.2g/t gold, and 11m at 3.93g/t gold from 106m, including 1m at 34.3g/t gold.
“These results continue to demonstrate the consistency of gold mineralisation within the Stage 1 pit and provide further confidence in both our geological model and the planned conversion of this inventory to the Measured Mineral Resource category,” Astral managing director Marc Ducler said.
“As we anticipated, drilling has continued to delineate broad intercepts of gold mineralisation containing very high-grade shoots within the coherent zones of quartz-sulphide veining, typical of the intense alteration we now know to be ubiquitous with gold mineralisation within the host granite at Theia.”
Ducler said reducing the average drill spacing to 12.5m by 12.5m would support the declaration of Measured Resources across the Stage 1 mining inventory.
“Upgrading the Stage 1 inventory to the Measured Resource classification is an important milestone because it underpins the first 16 months of planned mill feed and represents another key de-risking step as we progress the Mandilla Gold Project Definitive Feasibility Study and project financing,” Ducler said.
Astral said assay results remain in line with expectations, with the average grade of all intercepts reported in the announcement sitting at 1.24g/t gold, above the Mineral Resource Estimate grade for the Stage 1 pit. The three-phase RC in-fill program remains on schedule, with 151 holes for 15,131m completed and a further 280 holes planned through the remainder of 2026. The company is also continuing its Theia Deeps diamond drilling program, with assay results pending for five holes totalling 2,614m.