Astral Resources doubles gold resource at Spargoville Project

• Astral Resources doubled its gold estimate at the Spargoville Project to 281,000 ounces.
• The company's total gold inventory across all regional projects increased to 2.21 million ounces.
• The expansion was driven by updated economic assumptions and a higher assumed gold price of $4,500 per ounce.

Astral Resources (ASX:AAR) has reported a 102% increase in contained gold at its Spargoville Project in Western Australia, lifting the site's mineral estimate to 281,000 ounces.

The revised figures lift the project's total resources to 8.5 million tonnes grading 1.0 grammes per tonne gold, compared with the previous estimate of 139,000 ounces.

"Part of the motivation for completing this re-optimisation was to help us refine upcoming drilling programmes to target further growth," said Astral Resources Managing Director Marc Ducler.

The company stated that the higher assumed gold price of $4,500 per ounce, up from $3,500 per ounce previously, was the main driver of the expanded resource bounds.

The updated estimate brings the company's total combined gold inventory across its Western Australian deposits to 2.21 million ounces.

Following the announcement, the Astral Resources share price was up at $0.17.

Astral Resources acquired the Spargoville Project last year through its purchase of Maximus Resources.

The Spargoville property lies roughly 70km south of Kalgoorlie and directly adjoins the company's flagship Mandilla Gold Project.