Omai Gold posts positive drill results at Omai Gold Project, Guyana
Omai Gold Mines Corp. [TSXV: OMG; OTCQB: OMGGF] reported continued positive drilling results from its Omai gold project in Guyana. Since drilling commenced in July 2024, 17 diamond drill holes have been completed totalling 8,460 metres. Assays are reported for six drill holes and assays are pending for six additional holes. Drilling continues with two rigs.
Highlights: Hole 24ODD-086 (partial results); 2.96 g/t Au over 19.4 m; 3.78 g/t Au over 10.5 m and 1.28 g/t Au over 19.5 m.
Hole 24ODD-083: 10.93 g/t Au over 7.5 m; 2.33 g/t Au over 17.7 m; 1.93 g/t Au over 11.5 m and 0.64 g/t Au over 26.5 m, including 1.05 g/t Au over 13.0 m.
Hole 24ODD-082: 3.19 g/t Au over 22.8 m, including 7.04 g/t Au over 8.0 m; 3.65 g/t Au over 4.5 m and 3.22 g/t Au over 3.9 m.
Hole 24ODD-079: 1.89 g/t Au over 13.6 m.
Elaine Ellingham, President and CEO, commented, “These new drilling results confirm the potential to expand the Wenot deposit along strike, to depth, and within the sedimentary rocks. We expect to further expand the drill program this quarter, including the addition of a third drill rig, to accelerate towards an updated Mineral Resource Estimate at Wenot in Q1 2025. Work on the underground Gilt Creek deposit has also commenced and we expect to complete drilling, engineering, and metallurgical studies in order to include Gilt Creek in an updated economic study in Q2 2025, together with an expected expanded Wenot Mineral Resource Estimate. These current drill results move us significantly towards these next milestones.”
The current 10,000-metre drill program is designed to advance the Omai project on several fronts: to expand the limits of the large Wenot deposit both at depth and along strike to the east and west, to infill large undrilled “gaps” within the Preliminary Economic Assessment “PEA” pit that are expected to demonstrate continuity of mineralized zones in the sedimentary rocks along the southern side of the Wenot deposit, to explore mineralized near-surface splays on the northeast flank of Wenot, and to advance certain mineralized near-surface satellite zones. Results to date are meeting these objectives.
Drilling at Wenot continues to significantly expand the deposit below, to open-pit depths, as well as within the broad “gaps” in the previous resource drilling, and into the southern sedimentary sequence. Additional holes are planned on the several target areas and will proceed in the near-term. As per our operating methodology, a limited number of holes are completed on specific targets and additional drilling on that target awaits the assay results and interpretive work to optimize the effectiveness of the holes that follow. Additional assay results are expected shortly.
The most recent NI 43-101 Mineral Resource Estimate for the Omai property, dated May 21, 20241 includes a Wenot resource of 834,000 indicated ounces of gold grading 1.48 g/t Au and 1,614,000 inferred ounces of gold grading 1.99 g/t Au. For the adjacent Gilt Creek deposit, the NI 43-101 Mineral Resource Estimate is 1,151,000 indicated ounces of gold grading 3.22 g/t Au and 665,000 inferred ounces of gold grading 3.35 g/t Au, prepared by Eugene Puritch, P.Eng., FEC, CET, President of P&E Mining Consultants Inc.
Omai Gold Mines holds a 100% interest in the Omai Prospecting License that includes the past producing Omai Gold Mine in Guyana, and a 100% interest in the adjoining Eastern Flats Mining Permits. The company announced a Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA) on its Wenot Deposit at Omai in April 2024, showing an open pit operation to produce 1.84 million ounces of gold over a 13-year period, with an NPV5% of US$556 million at a US$1950/oz gold price.
This baseline PEA incorporates only 45% of the property’s MRE and management believes that with additional work the mine plan can be significantly expanded, the economics enhanced, and the open pit resources further increased. An updated NI 43-101 Mineral Resource Estimate (MRE) of 2.0 million ounces of gold (Indicated) and 2.3 million ounces (Inferred) reflects a notable increase as a result of 2023’s successful drilling. Once South America’s largest producing gold mine, Omai produced over 3.7 million ounces of gold between 1993 and 2005. Mining ceased at a time when the average gold price was less than US$400 per ounce. As a brownfields project, Omai benefits from good road access and a wealth of historical data that provides knowledge of the geology and gold mineralization on the property, as well as metallurgy, historical process recoveries and many other relevant mining parameters.