Shares in Australian gold miner Predictive Discovery Limited (ASX: PDI) are lifting today to now change hands 8% higher at 20 cents apiece.
Predictive Discovery shares have been on the move following a company announcement on its Bankan Gold Project in Guinea.
Here are the details.
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What was announced?
Predictive advised that it has extended the high-grade zone of its gold resource "50 metres below the US$1,800/oz optimised mineral resource pit shell" at its Bankan project.
The Bankan project is located in northeast Guinea, in West Africa. It covers 356 square kilometres in area across four permit zones.
One of the permits is a joint venture with local company Argo Mining SARLU, while the other three are wholly owned by Predictive Discovery and/or its subsidiaries.
It was back in September that the company announced its mineral resource estimate, "all for a very low resource discovery cost of $4/oz" at the site.
Now, in only 17 months since inception, the company has completed more than 53,000 metres of RC and diamond drilling on the Bankan project.
From today, the announcement notes that diamond drilling is ongoing at the Bankan site with "two multipurpose drill rigs currently drilling holes at depts between 80 metres and 130 metres below [the pit shell]".
The extension drilling of the high-grade zone continues to potentially add to the company's maiden inferred resource of 72.8 million tonnes, averaging 1.56g/t Au for 3.65 million ounces of gold.
This comes as "more than 90% of the Bankan project [remains] untested by any drilling".
Speaking on the announcement, Predictive Discovery managing director Paul Roberts said:
These new results have confirmed the Company's belief that, as the shear zone is intercepted below the optimised Resource pit shell, the high-grade mineralised zone continues to depth. With every new high-grade intersection below the existing open pit shell, the underground potential becomes clearer. NE Bankan shares the best qualities of tier-1 deposits, namely outstanding grades and widths combined with excellent mineralisation continuity.
What's next for Predictive Discovery?
Diamond drilling is ongoing at the site with two multipurpose rigs currently in place. Both rigs are now drilling holes between 450 metres to 500 metres below the Earth's surface to explore for deeper extensions to the gold zone.
Results are still pending from more diamond drilled holes beneath the pit shell described earlier.
The company reckons this has the potential to extend the high-grade gold zone further, according to the announcement.
Predictive Discovery share price snapshot
It's been a year of outsized returns for the Predictive Discovery share price, having climbed 233% in the last 12 months after rallying 227% this year to date.
Despite this, it has fallen 9% into the red in the past month but is still well ahead of the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO)'s gain of around 22% in the last year.
