Astral Resources (ASX:AAR) said the ongoing infill reverse circulation drilling program continues to validate the geological model at the Theia deposit, part of the Mandilla gold project in Western Australia, and supports the conversion of the stage one open pit inventory to the higher-confidence-level measured mineral resource category, according to a Thursday Australian bourse filing.
It encountered intercepts of one meter at 11.1 grams-per-tonne grade of gold from 20 meters, three meters at 4.72 g/t grade of gold from 61 meters, and 31 meters at 3.03 g/t grade of gold from 12 meters.
A total of 151 holes for 15,131 meters have been completed, and drilling is expected to continue through the remainder of the year.
Its shares rose 2% in recent trading on Thursday.