Lunnon Metals has reported a first-time mineral resource estimate for its Lady Herial gold deposit, only 15 months after initial drilling took place at the prospect.
Lady Herial was Lunnon’s first discovery at its Kambalda gold-nickel project in Western Australia. Hosted on granted mining leases located near infrastructure, Lady Herial was discovered in February 2024 and is an outcropping to very shallow, high-grade and thick gold deposit.
Lady Herial’s first-time mineral resource estimate stands at 573,000 tonnes (t) at 1.6 grams per tonne (g/t) of gold for 29,000 ounces (oz). A total of 270,000t at 1.9g/t for 16,600oz falls under the measured resource category.
The result has increased Lunnon’s confidence in its ability to fast track Lady Herial towards potential future production.
“Lunnon Metals and all its shareholders benefit from our leases at St Ives/Kambalda being in such a highly endowed gold belt,” Lunnon managing director Edmund Ainscough said.
“To refocus on gold in early 2024 was a low-risk strategy but little did we imagine that one of the first prospects tested would bear fruit so quickly and expose the company to these amazing gold price levels.”
Lunnon said once the open pit receives regulatory approval, the development footprint will be cleared.
The company will then complete a further round of infill close spaced drilling to remove the need for grade control during subsequent operations.
Drilling will also aim to upgrade and extend Lady Herial’s indicated and inferred resource categories before making a final mining decision.
“The technical studies are well advanced and in the near future, we will be able to communicate the potential financial benefits of mining Lady Herial as well as kicking-off best endeavour negotiations with Gold Fields to lock-in an agreed window to mine and deliver this deposit to their nearby processing plant,” Ainscough said.
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