Newcore Gold (TSXV: NCAU)(US-OTC: NCAUF) has cut one of its widest and strongest zones yet at the Boin deposit in Ghana, adding higher-grade material that could improve the mine plan for its Enchi gold project. The shares rose.
Drillhole KBRC411 cut 69 metres grading 2.59 grams gold per tonne from 58 metres depth, including 24 metres at 6.41 grams from 59 metres, Newcore said Thursday. A second hole, KBRC414, returned 32 metres at 0.83 gram from 70 metres, including 6 metres at 3.37 grams from 84 metres.
“This drilling includes one of our best intercepts encountered to date on the project, as well as a wide zone of above reserve grade gold mineralization,” President and CEO Luke Alexander said in a release. There’s “opportunity for future mine plan optimization and the potential to incorporate additional higher-grade mineralization into future studies,” he said.
Newcore shares gained more than 17% to 34¢ in Thursday morning trading in Toronto, valuing the company at about C$107 million. They’ve traded between 27¢ and 92¢ over the last 12 months.
June study
The results build on a pattern of higher-grade drilling at Enchi since Newcore completed its prefeasibility study (PFS) in June. Only the first 28,000 metres of the current program fed the resource estimate underlying that study, leaving the latest Boin results and deeper hits reported this summer available for future resource and mine-plan updates.
Newcore plans to apply for a Ghanaian mining lease before year-end while completing its 80,000-metre drill program. The company has reported 47,100 metres so far and expects the 2026 results to feed future resource estimates and economic studies, although it hasn’t given a timeline for either update.
The seven reverse-circulation holes released Thursday totalled 960 metres across five sections covering 1.9 km of strike. All intersected gold mineralization, with the drilling aimed at converting resources and better defining higher-grade portions of Boin for future reserve updates.
The holes remained relatively shallow, reaching a maximum vertical depth of 125 metres. The average vertical depth of drilling across Boin is only about 100 metres, while around 40% of its more than six-kilometre-long gold-in-soil anomaly remains untested.
Boin deposit
Boin has 15.9 million probable tonnes grading 0.84 gram gold per tonne for 429,000 oz., 23.5 million indicated tonnes grading 0.73 gram for 550,000 oz. and 9.2 million inferred tonnes at 0.6 gram for 178,000 oz., according to the reserve and resource estimate used in the June PFS.
Another hole released Thursday, KBRC404, cut 22 metres grading 0.68 gram gold from 70 metres depth, including 7 metres at 1.64 grams from 72 metres. Reported intercepts are hole lengths, with true widths estimated at 75% to 85%.
The Boin results complement deeper drilling at Nyam reported in July. Hole NBDD088 there cut 25.3 metres grading 3.67 grams from 307.7 metres depth beneath the pit shell constraining the current reserve.
“We maintain our view that Enchi’s metal endowment will ultimately support a larger scale mining operation than that outlined in the project’s recently released PFS,” Haywood Securities analyst Marcus Giannini said at the time.
Newcore says 99% of holes have intersected gold mineralization. Reverse-circulation drilling is focused on near-surface conversion and growth, while diamond drilling is testing higher-grade targets at depth.
Mine plan
The June PFS outlined a 5.5-million-tonne-per-year open-pit mine and conventional mill producing about 953,000 oz. over 9.3 years. Average annual output was estimated at 104,000 oz., rising to about 129,000 oz. during the first three years.
At a gold price of US$3,800 per oz., the study estimated an after-tax net present value of US$496 million at a 5% discount rate, a 37% internal rate of return and a 1.6-year payback. Initial construction capital was estimated at US$351 million.
Enchi overall has 51.3 million probable tonnes grading 0.64 gram gold per tonne for 1.06 million oz., 83.6 million indicated tonnes grading 0.56 gram for 1.5 million oz. and 40.1 million inferred tonnes at 0.49 gram for 626,000 ounces. The resource has an effective date of June 23.
Source: https://www.mining.com/newcores-wide-gold-hit-boosts-enchi-plan-in-ghana/
