PERTH (miningweekly.com) – ASX-listed Gold Road Resources has set aside up to A$22-million to focus on exploration in the Yamarna belt, in Western Australia.
The company plans to spend between A$12-million and A$15-million on exploration in its North Yamarna tenements, while more than A$5-million will be spent to further explore the Gruyere joint venture (JV), with South Africa’s Gold Fields.
Some A$1.5-million to A$2-million will be spent on exploration of the South Yamarna JV, which is held with Sumitomo Metal Mining Oceania.
“The funding we have available following completion of the Gruyere JV transaction allows us to accelerate our geological evaluation of the Yamarna belt,” Gold Road executive director for exploration and growth Justin Osborne said on Tuesday.
“Gold Road will continue to use its proven exploration methodology of cost-effectively evaluating previously identified highly prospective targets.”
Osborne said that in 2017, Gold Road planned to test multiple targets identified over the last three years across the North Yamarna tenements, and was anticipating an aggressive drilling programme for the Gruyere JV, which would be targeting the expansion of the resource base, including a deep diamond drilling programme targeting the potential underground extension to the current openpit mineral resource.
“This will represent an effective doubling of the 2016 exploration budget,” he said.