Meeka Metals boosts WA Turnberry gold resource to 685Koz—at current prices, that’s US$1.2bn

Meeka Metals (ASX:MEK) this week boosted the size of its gold mineral resource at the Turnberry prospect, part of the company’s larger WA-based Murchison Gold Project, to an impressive 685,000 ounces of gold. 

That 685Koz comes from 12.4Mt of ore @ a grade of 3g/t, considered on the ‘middle-upper’ end of mid grade. 

This news follows news last month that the company achieved 98% gold recovery rates at Murchison. 

Assuming all 685,000 ounces are recovered, at current prices that’s about US$1.2bn, with gold at the time of writing being US$1,850. 

And, thanks to Turnberry, the Murchison project now boasts a resource of 1.2Moz—but for now, it’s all eyes on Turnberry. 

More resource extensions to come 

“Drilling over the last 18 months has targeted the high-grade core of Turnberry, in addition to expanding the shallow oxide gold on the western flank,” Meeka chief Tim Davidson said. 

“Open pit optimisation used to constrain the Mineral Resource reflects recent mining cost escalation in the industry. This approach has reduced the size of the open pit portion of the Mineral Resource, which now stands at ~330koz.”

“Cost escalation was mitigated somewhat through the addition of shallow oxide gold on the western flank which falls within the pit optimisation. Planning is in place to further extend the strike of this shallow gold in 2023.”

200m of the good stuff 

Meeka this week highlighted the Turnberry prospect boasts an average of 1,600oz per vertical metre from surface (in an open pit scenario) to a depth of 200m, where mineralisation is the densest at Turnberry. 

The prospect reflects a shallow high-grade deposit previously undisturbed by other miners. Meeka sees the potential for an underground mine in the future.

All in all, over 80,900m of drilling was used as the basis for the resource, prepared by privately held technicians RSC. 

That impressive drill count was carried out on a strike nearly 2km in length. 

Of the 685Koz, 64% of the open pit constrained mineral resource is classified as “Indicated”, which reflects middle-range confidence (but falls short of being classified as “proven”).

St. Anne’s resource on horizon 

Regular readers may be familiar with Meeka’s gold operations at Murchison, where the company is most interested in both the Turnberry and St. Anne’s prospects.

St. Anne’s has been the source of high-grade gold hits, and the company is moving towards a mineral resource for St. Anne’s within Q1. 

A pivot into the rare earths sector has also failed to kill momentum at Murchison, suggesting Meeka’s got the right team on the job. Market Index interviewed Meeka chief Tim Davidson in September last year. (Note: no relation to the author).

A look at Meeka Metals' charts across 2022

Disclaimer: Market Index helps small-cap ASX listed companies connect with Australian investors through clear and concise articles on key developments. Meeka Metals was a client at the time of publishing. All coverage contains factual information only and should not be interpreted as an opinion or financial advice.