London- and VFEX-listed Kavango Resources’ diamond drilling programme at the Bill’s Luck gold mine, part of the Hillside project, in Zimbabwe, has confirmed a larger and more continuous gold system than previously known.

The results provide the basis for a maiden mineral resource estimate (MRE), which will guide future mine planning and production, the company said on January 26.

The programme, designed to support and inform future mining operations, comprises an initial wide-spaced diamond drilling phase, followed by infill diamond drilling and a separate reverse circulation (RC) drilling campaign along strike to the north-west and south-east.

A total of 7 714 m were drilled, including 3 556 m of RC drilling and 4 158 m of diamond drilling (DD). Results from the RC programme are expected to be released in the coming weeks once all assays have been confirmed.

The drilling successfully intersected the currently mined main reef and identified an additional mineralised reef structure adjacent to and parallel with it. Further reefs in both the hanging wall and footwall were also intersected.

Gold assay results from the surface and underground DD programme include multiple high-grade intersections, with highlights such as 41.28 g/t over 1.05 m from 44.25 m in hole BLDDUG020C and 106.05 g/t over 1.16 m from 42.04 m in hole BLDDUG023.

The company noted that the distribution of gold appears to reflect a nugget effect, with variation between intersections of the same reefs in adjacent holes.

Modelling of the Bill’s Luck mine is currently underway, and true width intersections will be announced once the work is complete, Kavango said.

“The resource drilling programme at Bill’s Luck has exceeded our expectations, demonstrating that the mineralised system extends to depths greater than 220 m and exhibits continuity both along strike and at depth.

“Together with our incoming RC results, we hope to define a maiden MRE in the near future, which will be used to inform mine planning and scheduling at Bill’s Luck and to underpin our assessment of the mine’s longer-term production potential," Kavango interim CEO Peter Wynter Bee said.

The company confirmed that the forthcoming MRE, incorporating both diamond and RC drilling results, will underpin planning for the Bill’s Luck mine and provide a clearer understanding of its production potential.