Australian mining firm Emerald Resources is preparing to commence first-pass test drilling on its O’Rman prospect in northeastern Cambodia, where soil assays from augur samples have indicated the presence of gold mineralisation, the company said in its latest quarterly report.

The prospect is located about 6 kilometres north of the company’s Okvau gold project, which an independent study estimated could yield 1.13 million tonnes of gold at 2.2 g/t, and has no historical record of drilling.

Emerald, which announced a merger with Australian listed miner Renaissance Minerals earlier this month, said drilling operations would begin by the end of the wet season in November.