Ballard Mining (ASX:BM1) has recorded its ‘highest-ever’ gold intercept at the Mt Ida Gold Project in Western Australia, with drilling at the West Knell prospect returning 9m @ 27.1 grams per tonne gold (Au) from 191m.
The intercept in hole WKEX101 represents a 244 gram-metre result, calculated by multiplying grade by length. It occurs outside the current mineral resource envelope and extends mineralisation further north and at depth below previous drilling.
Other recent results from West Knell include 4m @ 7.2g/t Au from 192m in WKEX102A, 2m @ 5.6g/t Au from 69m in the same hole, and 2m @ 4.4g/t Au from 35m in WKEX103.
The West Knell deposit has now been traced over approximately 1.4km of strike. The deposit forms part of the 13km-long Ballard Fault Zone, which hosts multiple
gold discoveries and remains largely underexplored.
BM1 says the fault zone is emerging as a potential camp-scale opportunity.
Managing Director Paul Brennan says the Baldock Thrust has ‘historically received greater exploration focus’, but that the Ballard Fault ‘hosts the same rocks and lies on the eastern side’ of the Copperfield Granite intrusion.
“We are confident the Ballard Fault Zone is expected to make a significant contribution to the scale of Mt Ida, which demonstrates the potential to evolve into a multi-million-ounce gold district,” Brennan says.
The company is awaiting the grant of a mining lease over West Knell, anticipated in the current quarter. An updated mineral resource estimate for Mt Ida is also expected later in the September Quarter.
The Mt Ida Gold Project currently hosts a JORC mineral resource of 1.2 million ounces (Moz) of contained gold. The Baldock deposit contributes more than 1Moz of that total.
Ballard Mining is a Western Australian gold exploration and development company with a portfolio of projects across the Goldfields region
Write to JC Villarba at Mining.com.au
Images: Ballard Mining
