K92 Mining has been selected by the Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) to receive the 2021 Thayer Lindsley Award for the discovery of the Kora North deposit at its Kainantu gold mine in Eastern Highlands Province, Papua New Guinea.

The award recognizes an individual or team of explorationists credited with a recent significant mineral discovery globally and will be presented to the K92 team during the annual PDAC Convention in March. 

When K92 restarted Kainantu, after acquiring it from Barrick Gold in 2015, the focus was to mine an Irumafimpa deposit while exploring and developing other deposits. A breakthrough came in 2017 when K92 tested the thesis that two of the mine’s deposits, Kora and Eutompi, were in fact the same deposit. 

Previously, Eutompi was viewed as a distinct and lower grade deposit that was not of interest for step-out drilling, while K92 believed there was the potential for a higher grade, northern extension of Kora at depth, below Eutompi. The exceptional characteristics of the Kora North discovery have allowed Kainantu to operate at head grade of approximately 18 grams per tonne of gold since commercial production in 2018, placing the mine among the highest-grade operations in the world.

“We are extremely proud to receive this distinguished award, which we believe strongly recognizes the world-class nature of the Kainantu gold mine, the tremendous geologic potential of Papua New Guinea and the significant value creation from the K92 team,” said John Lewins, K92 chief executive and director.

Lewins noted that the company continues to expand the Kora deposit as well as carry out exploration near current mining operations. K9 has “10 diamond drill rigs operating on various targets with an eleventh rig due in early 2021,” he said.

Source: https://k92mining.com