PERTH (miningweekly.com) – A maiden inferred resource of 468 000 t, grading 8.1 g/t gold, for 123 000 oz of gold at the Suzie zone, has pushed the global resource of the Andy Well mine, in Western Australia, to over half a million ounces.

Owner Doray Minerals reported on Wednesday that with the Andy Well resource inventory at over 500 000 oz, Doray’s total resource inventory increased to over 1.1-million ounces when combined with the newly acquired Deflector copper/gold/silver deposit.

“This high-grade resource at Suzie takes the total Andy Well resource to over half-a-million ounces for the first time, in addition to the production of about 130 000 oz so far, and is further evidence of the mine-life upside at Andy Well, with systematic exploration,” said Doray MD Allan Kelly.

The Suzie zone is located parallel to the operating Wilber Lode underground mine, as well as the Judy Lode, which was scheduled for underground mining in the near term.

Kelly said on Wednesday that near-term exploration would continue at the Andy Well mine with a view to replacing the resources depleted through mining, and to extend the mine life.

Underground drilling was under way to test below the current base of the Wilber mineral resource, and underground drilling underneath the Judy resource area would be undertaken early in 2016 to follow up on recently discovered extensions to the Judy Lode.

Meanwhile, following on from the maiden mineral resource at Suzie, Doray would also evaluate the potential for small-scale openpit mining, scheduled to complement the current Stage 2 openpit campaign at Wilber.

Doray had started the required permitting work for openpit mining at Suzie, in anticipation of a positive outcome.

Evaluation work would also be undertaken on the potential for underground mining of the deeper section of the Suzie lode.