Oceana chief executive Mick Wilkes said drilling results could improve the respective mine lives at Macraes in East Otago and Waihi in the central North Island, and increase the estimated in-pit gold resource at Haile, in South Carolina.
Macraes has a pit life to 2019, and underground operation until 2020, while Waihi in the central North Island is 2019. Oceana said in recent months it was hoping to extend the Macraes mine life by up to a decade.
Up to $US40million was being spent by Oceana this year in exploration across all operations, with about 50% to be spent in New Zealand. Mr Wilkes said last week in a market update: "The latest round of drill results further demonstrate the significant potential that exists at each of our assets and in the nearby greenfield [exploration] areas."
For the year to date, 172 holes had been drilled at Waihi; drilling started at a nearby target in the Hauraki region. At Macraes 209 holes were drilled, underground and at surface, and more than 80 holes at Haile so far.
Drilling at Macraes included the Golden Point and Coronation North deposits, focused on extensions to gold-bearing areas. For the extensive drilling data supplied by Oceana this week, many tests still had "assays pending" and others would not be formally reported until March next year.
