Orca Gold Inc. said Feb. 2 that an updated mineral resource estimate for its majority-owned Block 14 gold project in Sudan showed a 10% increase in indicated resources.

Using a cutoff of 1.0 g/t of gold, the project hosts indicated resources of 30.6 million tonnes at 1.82 g/t of gold for about 1.80 million ounces of contained gold, and inferred resources of 9.7 million tonnes at 1.7 g/t of gold for 536,000 ounces of contained gold.

Inferred resources fell by 15% compared to a July 2016 estimate.

The mineral resource update was undertaken as part of a pre-feasibility study currently in progress. About 6,236 meters of reverse circulation and 826 meters of diamond core drilling were completed to upgrade inferred resources to the indicated category. The program targeted 10% of the material within the designed pits used in the preliminary economic assessment.

In addition, the company noted that a recent infill drilling program at the property confirmed the potential of high-grade mineralization below the PEA pit designs.

Significant intercepts include 25 meters at 18.4 g/t of gold at the Wadi Doum target, 30 meters at 7.98 g/t of gold at the Galat Sufar South target, and 10 meters at 15.32 g/t of gold at the Liseiwi prospect.

Exploration in the first half will focus on further developing Liseiwi as a high-grade target, as well as on the underground potential at Wadi Doum and Galat Sufar South, Orca Gold said.