Barton Gold (ASX:BGD) has been awarded a $595,000 exploration grant by the South Australian government under round 3 of its Accelerated Discovery Initiative (ADI).
The funds will be used to undertake proof-of-concept exploration programs at the gold-focused explorer’s Tarcoola and Tunkillia projects, located in the Central Gawler Craton region.
Speaking on the update, Barton Managing Director Alexander Scanlon said: “We are grateful to receive such incredible support from the South Australian Government in our mission to unlock the regional structural context and reinvigorate gold exploration in the central Gawler Craton.
“These funds will significantly accelerate work to map key structural and stratigraphic controls in the Tarcoola area”
These funds will significantly accelerate work to map key structural and stratigraphic controls in the Tarcoola area, improving regional structural modelling and identifying new exploration opportunities.”
At Tarcoola, Barton notes that it intends to conduct 2D seismic work in order to increase resolution of the near subsurface (to ~1,500m depth) and the interpreted regional structural model.
This will focus on a newly-identified (2020) ‘highly prospective’ system of shears and faults analogous to the Perseverance Shear, and will include conceptual drill testing of inferred structural targets to validate local interpretation.
3D model of interpreted structural architecture at the Tarcoola Gold ProjectEarlier ground penetrating radar work at the project, funded by round 2 of the ADI, identified several new shallow targets including over 20 vein-like targets, an ~8m deep stockwork-like intrusive anomaly, and a ~12m deep dome-like anomaly.
Importantly, these were encountered within ~1.5km of the Perseverance open pit mine.
At Tunkillia, round 3 funding will be used to extend trials of Portable PPB’s detectORE technology to the project. The CSIRO-patented technology is designed to provide in-field gold results within 8 hours, providing a significant benefit over lab-assays which can take weeks and are subject to bottleneck delays.
Images: Barton Gold Holdings Ltd
