Aureka (ASX:AKA) has characterised a new mineralised structure at the St Arnaud Comstock Project in Victoria after intersecting near-surface visible gold within hole 25NED007.
The company uncovered around 12 grains of visible gold intersected at 127.6m and ranging from 0.5 to 1mm in length within a steeply dipping faulted laminated quartz vein.
The structure is sub parallel to the inferred resource zone, running around 125m vertically from the surface, marking Aureka’s second extension to Comstock mineralisation over the past month.
Aureka delivered a record intercept of 0.3m @ 109 grams per tonne gold from 117.2m through a diamond drilling campaign, with hole 25NED002 also returning 1m @ 65.37g/t gold from 116.2m, including 0.4m @ 65.4g/t gold from 116.2m, as reported by Mining.com.au.
Managing Director James Gurry says these results come at a time when mill owners Core Prospecting are assessing pathways to small scale production for the asset, as reported.
“I am delighted to be reporting further occurrences of visible gold at St Arnaud, Comstock, with extensions this time to the west after our recent highlight intercepts extending mineralisation to the north,” Gurry says.
Exploration Manager Jozef Story says identifying a near-surface structure with visible gold proximal to the main Comstock Shear target highlights the discovery potential of the greater goldfield.
“Hole 25NED007 was drilled primarily to target the down dip extension of the main Comstock Shear and the new intercept of additional visible fold demonstrates the ongoing exploration upside that still remains within the Comstock Project,” Story says.
“Significant arsenopyrite and pyrite mineralisation have been observed deeper within 25NED007 below the near surface visible gold, and both are associated with laminated and brecciated quartz veins, which we are confident is the northern extension of the Comstock Shear zone that has previously returned high grade assays of up to 109g/t gold, and the primary target of 25NED007.
“The newly identified structure and visible gold observed within 25NED007 occurs subparallel to the main Comstock Shear and has potential for both along strike and down dip continuity and represents a new near-surface target for future exploration drilling and resource expansion.”
Aureka is an Australian gold explorer focused on uncovering discoveries in Victoria.
Write to Maddison Elliott at Mining.com.au
Images: Aureka
