Omai Gold Mines drills 4.54 g/t gold over 27.5 metres at Omai project, Guyana
Omai Gold Mines Corp. [OMG-TSXV; OMGGF-OTC] reported additional excellent drill results from the company’s Omai gold project in Guyana. Assays have been received for an additional hole drilled in the Wenot target. To date in 2023, 14 holes have been completed, totalling 5,235 metres, and drilling continues. Hole 23ODD-065 encountered very wide zones of gold mineralization, starting at a vertical depth of 140 m. Visible gold was identified at 22 locations within the core.
Highlights for hole 23ODD-065 include 4.54 g/t gold over 27.5 metres (including 8.17 g/t Au over 11.2 m); 1.83 g/t gold over 25.5 metres; and 2.37 g/t gold over 12.5 metres.
Elaine Ellingham, president and CEO, commented: “Our recent drilling that has focused on expanding the Wenot deposit has been very successful. These results for hole 23ODD-065 are excellent, intersecting a 127-metre wide, well-mineralized rhyolite-diorite dike complex with two very wide gold zones, one 27.5-metre wide and a second 25.5 metres wide. This shear-hosted dike complex extends along the greater-than 2km strike length of the Wenot deposit, occurring within the volcanic sequence north of the contact shear. It typically hosts gold zones secondary to the main gold zones associated with the quartz-feldspar porphyry and protomylonite units that straddle the central contact shear. However, the shear-hosted rhyolite-diorite dike complex in this area has proven to be particularly wide and well mineralized. The gold zones within hole 23ODD-065 are at the northern flank of the Wenot deposit and at a relatively shallow depth. Such wide, high-grade and shallow zones will be important for a future open-pit operation. Unfortunately, this hole was lost before it reached the central shear, where additional gold zones would have been expected.
“The current drilling of the Wenot target area remains focused on testing some of the undrilled gaps within the Wenot deposit model to increase the resource; expanding the western starter pit area; and providing evidence of the vast open potential at depth for the Wenot deposit. These new results and recent results with wide and good-grade zones are expected to positively impact the resources as we move forward to an updated mineral resource estimate expected in late September, with an expected decision to proceed with a preliminary economic assessment (PEA) immediately thereafter.”
The most-recent National Instrument 43-101 mineral resource estimate for the Omai property, dated Dec. 2, 2022, includes a Wenot resource of 756,600 indicated ounces of gold grading 1.34 g/t Au and 1,112,600 inferred ounces of gold grading 1.72 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.
An additional three to four holes are planned for the current drill program, to be followed by an updated mineral resource estimate, expected to be completed early in the fall. The company intends to proceed with a preliminary economic assessment immediately thereafter.
Omai Gold Mines holds a 100% interest in the Omai prospecting licence, which includes the past-producing Omai gold mine in Guyana, and a 100% interest in the adjoining Eastern Flats mining permits. The company released an updated mineral resource estimate October 20, 2022, that includes a 14% expansion to the Wenot shear-hosted gold deposit, and an initial NI 43-101 MRE for the adjacent Gilt Creek intrusion-hosted deposit.
Once South America’s largest producing gold mine, Omai produced over 3.7 million ounces of gold between 1993 and 2005.