Ora Banda Mining Unveils Spectacular Gold Hits at Waihi Project in Western Australia
Ora Banda Mining has announced a series of bonanza-grade gold discoveries at its Golden Pole Lode 1 prospect, part of the broader Waihi project located in Western Australia's Eastern Goldfields region. The exceptional results have confirmed robust mining potential, prompting the company to fast-track plans for incorporating these findings into an upcoming resource upgrade for Waihi. These stellar intercepts are also generating significant momentum towards the potential development of a third underground mine to supply ore to the nearby Davyhurst processing facility.
High-Grade Drill Results Highlight Mining Potential
The latest drilling campaign yielded standout intercepts, led by a super high-grade hit of three metres at 44 grams per tonne (g/t) gold from a shallow depth of only 50 metres. This intercept included a higher-grade zone of two metres running at more than two ounces of gold per tonne, showcasing the rich mineralisation. Additional impressive results featured a blistering two-metre section grading 48.2 g/t gold within a broader 11-metre intercept averaging 10.5 g/t gold from 215.4 metres depth. A third hole presented a seven-metre hit grading 16.9 g/t gold from 142.6 metres, with a standout three-metre section grading 31.3 g/t gold.
Successful Drilling Program Expands Mineralisation
Ora Banda's recently completed twenty-two-hole program aimed to infill and extend mineralisation beneath the historical Golden Pond workings and confirm deposits around the new lode east of Golden Pole. Previous operators had inadequately tested the system down plunge, providing the company with a substantial opportunity to fully evaluate the lode's value. The highly successful program has defined a northwest-striking parallel high-grade shoot that remains open to the south and down plunge. Ora Banda states that these results validate the scale of the system and its mining potential.
"These excellent drill results build on a rapidly growing body of work at Waihi, and we're moving to incorporate these into an updated Waihi underground mineral resources and ore reserve estimate," said Ora Banda Mining managing director Luke Creagh.
Peripheral Targets and Geological Insights
The company has also achieved further success across peripheral targets at the Waihi project, with final 2025 drilling results now released from the assay lab. Notable highlights included 1.9 metres grading 8.5 g/t gold from Waihi West, while Waihi East delivered 1 metre grading 32 g/t gold. Geologically, tholeiitic and komatiitic basalts dominate the Waihi area, where gold mineralisation is tightly controlled by a network of ductile shear zones. These structures often host high-grade shoots within deformed quartz vein zones, presenting larger, blow-out-style ore bodies for Ora Banda to target.
Resource Upgrades and Financial Strength
Ora Banda is now rapidly incorporating these latest Golden Pole drilling results into an updated mineral resource and an underground ore reserve estimate for the Waihi project. Both updates are scheduled for release early in the June quarter, likely adding further weight to the company's already impressive global resource base of 3.3 million ounces. The company recently reported a massive $76.3 million in free cash flow from its Davyhurst assets in a record-breaking March quarter, with operations centralised around its wholly owned Davyhurst processing plant.
With a substantial $231.7 million war chest already in the bank, Ora Banda appears well-funded to convert its growing pipeline of exploration successes into near-term developments. Waihi now seems poised as the next priority project and could become the company's third underground mine when updated mineral resource and maiden underground ore reserve estimates are released early in the June quarter. Combining three mining operations with a rapidly expanding resource base, Ora Banda is positioning itself for a promising future in the gold mining sector.
