Greatland Gold PLC on Thursday said six drill rigs are currently operational at its Havieron gold-copper project in Western Australia, with all of them focused on growth programmes.

Chief Executive Shaun Day said: ‘The ramp up of the 2022 growth drill programme is an exciting time for Greatland and its shareholders as it presents an opportunity to further understand the size and scale of the Havieron system.’

The precious and base metals miner said that a high-grade result in the northwest pod on the northwest margin of the Havieron Breccia system confirms the potential for further high-grade sulphide mineralisation outside the south east crescent zone.

Day said: ‘This growth drilling programme is already delivering pleasing results with high-grade sulphide mineralisation confirmed in the NW Pod, several hundred meters away from the south east crescent and eastern Breccia zones. This, along with a continuation of the high-grade mineralisation outside of the recently updated initial mineral resource for the Eastern Breccia is a fantastic start to the calendar year.

‘With five drill rigs testing extensions to the current mineralised system and a further drill rig testing for new opportunities on the mining licence outside of the immediate known mineralisation, the 2022 drilling programme lays the foundation for defining the next phase of Havieron’s growth.’

Greatland shares were 4.1% lower to 14.77 pence each on Thursday morning in London following a slight retreat in gold prices.

Gold stood at $1,994.50 an ounce on Thursday in late morning trade, lower from $2,000.80 at the London equities close on Wednesday. On Tuesday, gold hovered above $2,050.

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