Astral Resources NL completed diamond drilling (DD) campaign at its 100%-owned Mandilla Gold Project located approximately 70km south of Kalgoorlie in Western Australia. The latest phase of DD was primarily designed to target the western flank of the cornerstone Theia deposit while also testing two inferred high-grade conjugate gold trends. Assay results have been returned for a further seven DD holes completed at Theia, with their cumulative gram x metres averaging a significant 74.3 gram-metres.

The results have outlined additional gold mineralisation at depth and on the western flank. In-fill drilling on a 20 x 20 metre pattern also delivered strong assay results within the Theia Main Zone. The updated MRE, scheduled for completion this quarter, is expected to provide a material increase to the JORC 2012 MRE at Mandilla, which is currently 24Mt at 1.0g/t Au for 784koz of contained gold.

Approximately 42,000 metres of additional drilling will be incorporated into this impending MRE update (the three DD holes at the newly discovered Hestia prospect and MDRCD652, which visually identified continuation of mineralisation on the eastern flank of Theia, will not be included in the updated MRE). The Mandilla Gold Project includes the Theia, Iris and Eos deposits, as well as the recently discovered Hestia prospect. Gold mineralisation at Theia and Iris is comprised of structurally controlled quartz vein arrays and hydrothermal alteration close to the western margin of the Emu Rocks Granite and locally in contact with sediments of the Spargoville Group.

Significant NW to WNW-trending structures along the western flank of the Project are interpreted from aeromagnetic data to cut through the granitic intrusion. These structures are considered important in localising gold mineralisation at Theia, which now has a mineralised footprint extending over a strike length of more than 1.5km. A second sub-parallel structure hosts gold mineralisation at the Iris deposit.

The mineralised footprint at Iris extends over a strike length of approximately 700 metres, combining with Theia to form a mineralised zone extending over a strike length of more than 2.2 kilometres. At Eos, located further to the south-east, a relatively shallow high-grade mineralised palaeochannel deposit has been identified. Mineralisation at the newly identified Hestia prospect, located approximately 500 metres west of Theia, is associated with a sheared zone adjacent to a mafic/sediment contact interpreted to be part of the major north-south trending group of thrust faults known as the Spargoville shear corridor.

The mineralisation at Hestia, which is present in a different geological setting to the primary mineralisation at Theia and Iris, remains open down-dip and along strike. Locally, the Spargoville shear corridor hosts the historically mined Wattle Dam gold mine (266koz at 10.6g/t Au) and, further to the north, the Ghost Crab/Mt Marion mine (>1Moz). Mandilla is covered by existing Mining Leases which are not subject to any third-party royalties other than the standard WA Government gold royalty.

THEIA DIAMOND DRILLING PROGRAM; This announcement reports assay results from seven DD holes for an aggregate 2,104.9 metres. The results relate to the completed 16-hole/4,021.8 metre DD program (excluding 450.1 metres of Reverse Circulation (RC) pre-collars). Assay results for a further four DD holes for 689.8 metres are pending, noting that these results will not be submitted for inclusion in the MRE update.

Holes MDRCD646 and MDRCD647 were drilled to in-fill on 20-metre x 20-metre grid spacing in the vicinity of the previously drilled MDRCD511. MDRCD646 returned several intersections with two broad zones of gold mineralisation, 11.6m at 1.82g/t Au from 164.0m and 29.7m at 0.51g/t Au from 180.95m, reported in the upper part of the MRE envelope. A second broad zone of mineralisation was identified at depth, recording 43.75m at 1.60g/t Au from 280.95m.

This zone of gold mineralisation provides good continuity with the Mineral Resource, albeit at higher grade than previous intersections in the vicinity. MDRCD647 intersected one zone of mineralisation in the upper section of the Mineral Resource, recording 5.1m at 1.72g/t Au from 205.0m. MDRCD648 was designed to target the northerly 310 high-grade gold trend identified from MDRCD514.

15m at 1.08g/t Au from 147m was intersected in the upper part of the hole; however, the hole did not reach the target zone, intersecting the sediment contact earlier than expected due to a cross-cutting fault. The cross-section presented below shows the additional mineralisation identified in MDRCD511 (32m at 5.44g/t Au and 15.07m at 2.24g/t Au), as well as that identified in MDRCD483 (22.9m at 0.90g/t Au and 19m at 1.54g/t Au), combined with the new mineralisation identified in MDRCD646, MDRCD647 and MDRCD648). These new DD results highlight the significant potential to increase the MRE on both the western flank and at depth.

Hole MDRCD651 was drilled to test a gap in the Mineral Resource immediately below the eastern pit wall. A strong zone of gold mineralisation was intersected in the upper part of the Mineral Resource (39.95m at 1.58g/t Au from 52.2m) which supports the current interpretation. No significant zones of mineralisation were identified below the current optimised open pit design on this section.

This section also shows MDGT007 (25m at 10.57g/t Au) and MDRC640 (4m at 24.57g/t Au), both of which have the potential to add Mineral Resources on the western flank of Theia, and MDRC638 (26m at 1.18g/t Au) which has the potential to add Mineral Resources on the eastern flank.