Kingston Resources Ltd (ASX:KSN) has completed an 11-hole drilling program at its Misima Gold Project in Papua New Guinea, aiming to provide infill and validation data in an area east of the historic Ewatinona open pit.
A total of 1,476 metres were drilled, with each hole also providing important structural data confirming the position and orientation of mineralised breccia zones.
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Misima has an existing 2.8-million-unce resource which Kingston believes may already be enough to support a long-life mining operation.
Current exploration work aims to deliver new near-surface mineralisation, as these are likely to have the largest impact on overall project economics.
The company expects near-surface ounces will boost cash flow in the early years of mining as it develops access to the main Misima resource.
Kingston’s Misima Gold Project in Papua New Guinea
Kingston managing director Andrew Corbett said: “This is a small program of validation drilling.
“Now we’re having a fresh look at new target areas nearby which have been highlighted by recent studies and field work.”
Drilling has moved to the Waipuna prospect which was recently identified by a modern reinterpretation of historic geochemical data combined with geophysics and LiDAR information.
The Waipuna drilling is ongoing and in April set a new monthly record for metres drilled.
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The company is also conducting exploration work to further define the prospective Misima North and Umuna East areas at Misima.
Trenching and mapping programs underway at Ara Creek will further define targets for which drilling is planned to begin in the September quarter.
Geochemical work in the area has shown high-grade results and Kingston believes the structural position of Misima North suggests it has potential to be a northern extension of the main Umuna shear zone.
This zone is where Placer mined 3.7 million ounces of gold in the 1990s and still hosts 2.6 million ounces of Misima’s resource.
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Umuna East hosts extensive geochemical anomalies and contains historic underground workings as well as an historic stamp mill.
The area has been the focus of artisanal mining, with local miners winning coarse supergene wire gold from mineralised structures at surface.
Drilling results and technical data from Umuna East and other targets obtained in 2019 will be incorporated into resource updates and subsequently captured into mining studies.
