Westgold tables MRE for Fletcher gold zone, shares rally
Westgold Resources Ltd. [WGX-TSX, ASX] has released a maiden resource estimate for the Fletcher Zone at its Beta Hunt mine in the Southern Goldfields of Western Australia.
The company said stage 1 drilling only tested 1.0 kilometre of the 2.0-kilometre strike of the Fletcher Zone, with a Stage 2.0 program now being planned to test the strike length and depth extension.
The company said the maiden resource estimate for the Fletcher Zone stands at 31 million tonnes of grade 2.3 g/t gold or 2.3 million ounces. The inclusion of the Stage 1.0 Fletcher estimate effectively doubles the September 2024 Beta Hunt Mineral Resource (when the company declared a global Fletcher Zone exploration target of 23 to 27 million tonnes of 2.1-2.5 g/t gold for 1.6-2.1 million ounces, including a Stage 1 target of 12-16 million tonnes of 2.1-2.5 g/t).
The company also said the Stage 1.0 Fletcher Zone mineralization extends over a zone of 500 metres in width and 2.0 kilometres in strike length with a vertical extent in excess of 800 metres. It sees a significant opportunity for resource extensions.
“Westgold is rapidly unlocking the value we identified at Beta Hunt,’’ said Westgold Managing Director and CEO Wayne Bramwell. “This is a circa 7.0 kilometre long, multi-lode mineralized system that is under-drilled and the company has delivered a maiden mineral resource of 2.3 million ounces from the Fletcher Zone, from just 1.0 kilometre of Fletcher’s apparent strike,’’ he said.
“This result points to the growth potential of Beta Hunt, and while this is a material milestone for Westgold, it is simply the first step in what is likely to be a multi-decade journey for Fletcher in an expanded Beta Hunt mine plan.’’
Bramwell went on to say that critically, mine life at Beta Hunt today exceeds 10 years without any contribution from Fletcher. Mine outputs are lifting from the existing Western Flanks and A Zone mining areas, and this improvement provides scope to evaluated the optimum mining and processing strategy for Fletcher, as it represents a transformational opportunity to further expand the scale of the Beta Hunt outputs.
Meanwhile, drill crews have commenced drilling to update the Stage 1.0 mineral resource, targeting maiden ore during 2026. Drill crews are also preparing to start testing the northern 1.0-kilometre extension of Fletcher in the Stage 2.0 program.
Westgold shares advanced on the news rising 6.14% or 15 cents to $2.59 in early trading, Monday. The shares trade in a 52-week range of $3.05 and $1.97.
The Beta Hunt operation, located at Kambalda 600 kilometres east of Perth, was acquired by Westgold as part of the August 2024 merger with TSX-listed Karora Resources.
The merger combined Karora’s Beta Hunt and Higginsville operations with Westgold’s Murchison and Bryah properties, resulting in four production centres. At the time of the merger, Westgold was producing between 220,000 and 230,000 ounces of gold annually.
Karora was focused on increasing gold production to a targeted range of 170,000 to 185,000 ounces.