S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) gold stock Ora Banda Mining Ltd (ASX: OBM) is marching higher today.
Ora Banda shares closed Friday trading for $1.355. In early morning trade on Monday, shares are changing hands for $1.41 apiece, up 4.1%.
For some context, the ASX 200 is down 0.7% at this same time.
Ora Banda shares have been on a tear since plumbing one-year closing lows on 17 July, now up 120.3% since those lows.
Here's what's grabbing investor interest today.
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ASX 200 gold stock jumps on resource increase
Ora Banda shares could be catching some headwinds today following a dip in the gold price.
Gold is currently trading for US$4,537 per ounce. That's down about 0.4% since Friday and down some 4.5% since last Monday.
However, the ASX 200 gold stock looks be getting support after announcing major mineral resource and ore reserve upgrades for its Round Dam and Waihi gold mines.
Ora Banda said the total mineral resource estimate (MRE) increased by 1.46 million ounces since last July. The total MRE now stands at 54.8 million tonnes at 2 grams of gold per tonne for 3.57 million ounces of gold (54.8 Mt at 2.0 g/t for 3.57 Moz).
The miner's total ore reserve estimate increased by 136% to 7.8 Mt at 2.2 g/t for 555,000 ounces of gold.
Management noted that the company is still awaiting assay results from its recent drilling at its Round Dam prospect. As such, those results were not included in the above resource and reserve estimates.
Ora Banda aims to report its maiden MRE for the Little Gem project in the first half of FY 2027.
What else is helping Ora Banda shares today?
This morning, Ora Banda also updated the market on its 'Drive to 300' initiative, which defines the ASX 200 gold stock's goal to double production over the next three years. The miner stressed that it remains to be seen if that aspiration will be achieved.
To drive that production growth, the Ora Banda board said it has approved a number of key projects. That includes the construction of a new, standalone 3.0 million tonne per annum (Mtpa) nameplate processing plant at Davyhurst, Western Australia. That's expected to cost $375 million.
Ora Banda has appointed GR Engineering Services Ltd (ASX: GNG) for the engineering, procurement, and construction works as part of the Davyhurst expansion.
The board has also approved Waihi Underground as Ora Banda's third underground mine for a capital cost of $90 million.
Commenting on the ambitious growth plans for the ASX 200 gold stock, Ora Banda managing director Luke Creagh said:
The DRIVE to 300 is the exciting next phase for Ora Banda, building on earlier success with the achievement of to DRIVE to 100 and DRIVE to 150.
This doubling of production is currently expected to be capable of being internally funded and has the potential to add material value and position Ora Banda as a long-term sustainable gold business.
