K92 Mining Inc. is pleased to announce results from the first two surface holes at Kora South and Judd South and from the property-wide airborne geophysics program at the Kainantu gold mine in Papua New Guinea.
This is the first time that drilling at Kora South and Judd South had been undertaken from surface by either K92 or prior operators.
Kora South and Judd South Drilling Results
Step-out drilling at both Kora South and Judd South delivered strong results with multiple high-grade and solid thickness intersections in addition to record thickness with the discovery of dilatant zones at both Judd South and Kora South.
At Judd South, the results are highlighted by hole KUDD0001, the southernmost step-out hole to date, stepping out 150 metres to the south from the nearest historical surface drill hole. KUDD0001 recorded multiple intersections including 15.25 m at 15.87 g/t AuEq or 13.23 g/t Au, 15 g/t Ag and 1.53% Cu (9.93 m estimated thickness) from the J1 Vein and strong grades from the J2 Vein that recorded 2.90 m at 8.52 g/t AuEq or 5.41 g/t Au, 16 g/t Ag and 1.81% Cu (1.89 m estimated thickness). The hole was terminated early due to loss of hole from drilling before it could reach Kora South.
Importantly, KUDD0001 discovered for the first time a dilatant zone within the Judd / Judd South vein system, representing the longest intersection to date recorded at Kainantu at 66.55 m at 5.02 g/t AuEq or 3.65 g/t Au, 9 g/t Ag and 0.78% Cu (43.26 m estimated thickness). The dilatant zone is punctuated by higher grades from the J1, J2 and potentially the J3 veins, with continuous gold and copper mineralization between the various veins. Geotechnical conditions observed in the core were also competent and analogous to that of Judd underground.
At Kora South, drill hole KUDD0002, the southernmost step-out to date along the Kora-Kora South vein system, stepping out 75 m to the south from the nearest drill hole, recorded solid thickness and high grades from multiple veins including 6.20 m at 17.26 g/t AuEq or 1.62 g/t Au, 151 g/t Ag and 8.56% Cu (4.04 m estimated thickness) from K2 Vein; 0.93 m at 36.39 g/t AuEq or 0.06 g/t Au, 93 g/t Ag and 21.88% Cu (0.60 m estimated thickness) from the K1 Vein; 5.00 m at 7.99 g/t AuEq or 4.67 g/t Au, 47 g/t Ag and 1.70% Cu (3.25 m estimated thickness) from the K3 Vein.
A notable feature of the K1 and K2 vein intersections is the very high copper grades, with ~1 metre assay composites up to 21.88% Cu over 0.93 m in K1 and up to 20.40% Cu over 1.04 m in K2, driven by massive copper sulphide veins punctuating the broader vein intersection. Encouragingly the K3 vein recorded one of its thickest intersections to date, despite the hole bottoming while still in K3 mineralization.
Notably, at Kora South, KUDD0002 intersected a dilatant zone, similar to Judd South, intersecting 35.90 m at 5.98 g/t AuEq or 1.42 g/t Au, 47 g/t Ag and 2.48% Cu (23.34 m estimated thickness), a record in terms of thickness for the Kora-Kora South vein system.
The dilatant zone is punctuated by higher grades from the K2 and K3 veins with continuous gold and copper mineralization between the veins. While early days, these dilatant zones represent a potential step-change in terms of the tonnage and metal endowment per vertical metre at Kora South and Judd South. As our drill and surface sampling programs progress its impact will be better understood.
Drilling results also intersected a previously unknown vein, located approximately 75 m to the east of Judd, recording 3.45 m at 10.36 g/t AuEq or 10.09 g/t Au, 20 g/t Ag and 0.01% Cu (2.24 m estimated thickness). This was the first time drilling had been conducted this far east of Judd and modifications to the drill program to test this vein are underway.
Other drill results include KUDD0002 recording 0.9 m at 15.43 g/t AuEq or 14.32 g/t Au, 39 g/t Ag and 0.39% (0.59 m estimated thickness) from J1 Vein; and 1.3 m at 16.63 g/t AuEq or 16.60 g/t Au and 0.01% Cu (0.84 m estimated thickness) from J2 Vein, located approximately 80 m north of KUDD0001.
