Trigon Metals Inc. has identified a new zone near Shaft #3 of Kombat Mine.
Mineralisation in these areas was initially detected in surface drilling in 2023, and some historic drill work dates back to when Goldfields operated the mine.
The company says the total volumes and tonnage for a mineral resource estimate have yet to be quantified.
Trigon Metals CEO Jed Richardson said expanding the reserves and mine plan at Shaft #3 is crucial because it opens up more working faces in an area with untapped extraction capacity.
“All our ore is being extracted from the decline ramp adjacent to Shaft #1, which limits us to 1,000 tpd.
“With the second unused decline at Shaft #3, bringing in new ore from this area will enable us to ramp up extraction.
“This is especially important as we plan to increase plant throughput from 1,000 tpd to 2,000 tpd next year,” Richardson said.
Trigon Metals’ vice president for exploration, Dr Andy Rompel, said the drilling program to confirm resources, convert resources to reserves and identify new areas of higher grades continues underground.
“We believe there is potential for the deposit to expand in width further into the dolomites, not only along the dolomite phyllite contact.
“Soon, we will add exploration drilling to the resource drilling to develop a better understanding of the mineralisation processes and consequently the predictability of the deposit,” Dr Rompel said.
Trigon Metals says it will estimate block volumes based on drilling intersections and convert these volumes into tonnes by applying the mineralization zone’s bulk density.
The company will also continue drilling within the indicated mineral resource estimate category.
Additionally, the company said it is considering follow-up drilling at closer intervals in high-grade areas to upgrade to the measured mineral resource estimate category potentially.
Trigon Metals also plans to drill approximately 3,500 meters by year-end, providing additional data to refine mineral resource estimates and increase confidence levels.
Lastly, the company said the variability in grades suggests heterogeneous mineralization.
