Astral Resources has increased its total group gold resource to 50 million tonnes (Mt) at 1.1 grams per tonne (g/t) for 1.76 million ounces (Moz), following its successful takeover of Maximus Resources.
The renewed mineral resource estimate (MRE) follows Astral acquiring the Spargoville, Mandilla and Feysville gold projects near Kambalda, Western Australia. Spargoville’s MRE stands at 3Mt at 1.4g/t of gold for 139,000 ounces (oz) of contained gold.
Astral’s cost and revenue assumptions have been applied from its upcoming Mandilla pre-feasibility study (PFS), with a gold price of $3500/oz and a 0.39g/t cut-off grade.
“With compulsory acquisition of the outstanding shares in Maximus having now been completed, we considered that it was important to set our own baseline for the recently acquired mineral resources at the Spargoville gold project,” Astral Resources managing director Marc Ducler said.
“Astral’s standard approach when testing the mineral resources for reasonable prospects for economic extraction (RPEE) includes a first step of regularising the block model, which is the process of varying the size of the block model shapes to approximate the size of the earth moving machinery likely to be used in open pit mining.
“Today’s update reflects this process of regularisation as well as the application of the latest revenue and cost data for the pit optimisations derived from contractor quotes obtained for the upcoming Mandilla PFS.”
Despite the lower resource compared to Maximus’ previous estimates, Ducler said that the change was anticipated and taken into account prior to the acquisition.
“The Maximus transaction was very important for Astral. Not only has it contributed a further 139,000 ounces of contained gold,” Ducler said.
“But it also provides the company with the necessary tenure footprint to develop the Theia deposit to its fullest potential.”
Astral is expected to commence drilling at Spargoville immediately in the south and north of the Hestia deposit in the current quarter, with more reverse circulation drilling programs under consideration for the September 2025 quarter.
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