The main lodes in the deposit wereestimated using ordinary kriging (“OK”) grade interpolationwhilst minor, discontinuous lodes were estimated using inverse distance interpolation. All lodes were interpolated using 1m composited data within wireframes prepared using nominal 0.3g/t Au envelopes and the lodes were estimated separately using hard boundaries.
Interpolation parameters were based on geostatistical analysis and considered the geometry of the individual lodes. A first pass search of 30m with a minimum of 12 samples and a maximum of 26 samples was used which resulted in 63% of the blocks being estimated. A second pass with a search range of 60m filled a further 26% of the blocks. The majority of the remaining blocks were filled with a 90m search.
High-grade cuts were applied to different lodes and ranged from 30g/t to 350g/t. The Starlight lode was estimated with a 350g/t high-grade cut. All values above 350g/t were clustered within 50m of surface and were considered to represent a particularly rich portion of the lode characterised by abundant coarse visible gold occurrences.
The application of high grade cuts has had a significant impact on the estimated grade. The uncut grade of the deposit was 12.0g/t, reducing to 10.2g/t in the reported Mineral Resource. The Starlight lode had an uncut grade of 19.8g/t, reducing to 17.0g/t for the reported Mineral Resource. The overall effect of the high-grade cuts was to reduce the grade and contained ounces of the reported Mineral Resource by 15%.
A Surpac block model was used for the estimate with a block size of 5m EW by 5m NS by 5m vertical with sub-cells of 0.625m by 0.625m by 2.5m.
Bulk density values applied to the model were 2.0t/m3for Oxide, 2.3t/m3for Transition and 2.80t/m3for Primary rock. The values were based on determinations using drill core from the deposit.
Mineral Resource Classification
The portion of the deposit defined by detailed exploration drilling, typically less than 25m spacing but up to a maximum of 50m hole spacings and displaying good continuity of mineralisation and predictable geometry were classified as Indicated Mineral Resource.
Portions of a number of the lodes were sparsely drilled and variably mineralised and were classified as Inferred Mineral Resource. This was generally extrapolated to a distance of up to 60m past drill hole intersections. All minor lodes were classified as Inferred.
Cut-off Grades
The shallow, sub-cropping and very high-grade nature of the deposit suggests that good potential exists for open pit mining at the project. The estimated depth potential for open pit is considered to be approximately 160m, so above 260mRL (approximately 160m vertical) the Mineral Resource has been reported at a 0.5g/t Au lower cut-off to reflect potential exploitation by open pit mining. Note, the open pit depth limit used is an estimate only and pit optimisation and evaluation has yet to be completed.
The deeper mineralisation shows sufficient tenor and thickness of mineralisation to have potential for underground mining. To reflect the higher cut-off grades expected with potential underground mining, the portion of the deposit below 260mRL has been reported at a cut-off grade of 3.0g/t Au. The maximum depth of the reported Mineral resource is 370m below surface.
