Black Cat Syndicate (ASX:BC8) is looking to close off 2023 with a surface reverse circulation (RC) drilling program at its wholly owned Paulsens Gold Operation in Western Australia.
The company says drilling is now underway and has been designed to target 2 prospective fault zones that host outcropping gold mineralisation at Paulsen’s Eastern Zone and the Belvedere deposit.
Black Cat reports that drilling is being undertaken in conjunction with ongoing detailed mapping and surface sampling within the Belvedere-Tombstone area, which recently returned surface samples of up to 3.6% copper. Assays are currently pending.
Drilling at the Eastern Zone is expected to comprise 4 drillholes to target down-plunge extensions to identified surface mineralisation in quartz veins. These veins returned up to 29.7 grams per tonne (g/t) gold from historical surface sampling.
The company notes that drilling at the Eastern Zone follows a new and updated geological model that suggests near-surface mineralisation is sub-parallel to the plunge of the Main Zone mineralisation and may connect with known mineralisation at depth and 1km to the northwest.
Drilling at the Eastern Zone is scheduled to be completed within a few days, at which time the rig will begin drilling 14 holes at Belvedere, where it will target fault-hosted mineralisation along the Belvedere Fault.
The current program at Belvedere is designed to cover a 500m section of the 2.5km long Belvedere Trend, where the current ‘high-grade’ 30,000oz @ 3.9g/t gold resource is hosted within a dolerite intrusion in the immediate hanging wall of the Belvedere Fault.
Drilling at Belvedere is scheduled to be completed in the next 10-14 days. Once complete, the drill rig will be reportedly moved to drill test the shallow surface extensions to the Apollo lodes.
Assays from drilling are expected in December this year.
Black Cat Syndicate Managing Director Gareth Solly says drilling represents the key to unlocking the door for potential ‘significant gold opportunities’ in the region.
“Regional targets have previously been relatively underexplored, with only limited drilling outside the Paulsens mine. Drilling at the 2.5km long Belvedere Trend amongst historic workings and high-grade rock chips is a priority.
Ongoing mapping and sampling in this area is increasing our understanding of the Belvedere district. The region is also prospective for copper, and the Belvedere program includes our first-ever copper-focused drilling.
“With a funding solution progressing, we look forward to being the only gold producer in the region in 2024”
As shown by our recent underground resource update, drilling is the key to unlocking the significant gold opportunities in the region. With a funding solution progressing, we look forward to being the only gold producer in the region in 2024.”
Black Cat Syndicate’s projects lie about 180km west of Paraburdoo in Western Australia and comprise an underground mine, a 450,000-tonne-per-annum (tpa) processing facility, a 128-person camp, numerous open pits, and other related infrastructure.
The company also owns the Coyote Gold Operation in Western Australia’s west Tanami region and the Kal East Project east of the regional mining centre of Kalgoorlie.
Black Cat Syndicate had $4.768 million cash and cash equivalents at hand as of 30 September 2023, although in October, it executed formal agreements for a $60 million funding package to restart the Paulsens Operation.
Write to Adam Drought at Mining.com.au
Images: Black Cat Syndicate
