09:02 AM EDT, 07/18/2024 (MT Newswires) -- Entree Resources ( ERLFF ) reported Thursday additional diamond drill hole results from 2022 and 2023 drilling programs at the Hugo North Extension (HNE) deposit on the Entree/Oyu Tolgoi property in Mongolia.

In a statement it said "a portion" of the analytical results from the 2023 drilling program, and all of the results from the 2024 drilling program are still pending and will be reported as soon as they become available from the company's joint venture partner Oyu Tolgoi LLC.

Entree also reported that underground development work on OTLLC's Oyu Tolgoi mining licence continues to advance and that Shafts 3 and 4 have now reached their final depths of 1,130 metres and 1,176 m, respectively, with final commissioning expected in second half 2024. Initial underground development work on the JV Property remains on schedule to start in Q4 2024.

The company said it hhas also received analytical results from diamond drilling at the Railway and Ulaan Khud regional exploration targets, with both targets returning anomalous results.

Highlights provided Thursday include (in relation to HNE Surface Drill Holes) 398 meters grading 2.07% copper equivalent, including 214 meters grading 2.79% copper equivalent; and (HNE Underground Drill Holes) 124 meters grading 3.67% copper equivalent, including 78 meters grading 5.43% copper equivalent.

"I am very pleased to see more exceptional drilling results from the HNE deposit including some holes which end in potentially ore grade mineralization below the currently proposed bottom limits of the Oyu Tolgoi Lift 2 Panel 1 block cave," President and CEO Stephen Scott said.

He added: "It is also encouraging that most of the geotechnical holes drilled east of, and outside of the Lift 2 cave shape are continually mineralized with copper grades. These results confirm HNE is a world class deposit capable of supporting mining from the JV Property for several future generations. It is truly an exciting time for Entree with first underground development on the JV Property scheduled to start later this year."

Scott said it will conduct initial work on necessary infrastructure outside of the ore footprint, with mining expected to commence thereafter.

And he added: "We are also encouraged by some of the early-stage drill results at the Ulaan Khud and Railway regional targets, where drill holes have intercepted several intervals of anomalous copper and gold values, at relatively shallow depths."

Entree's share price gained 4.8% yesterday to $1.52 on the TSX.