Gold explorer Black Cat Syndicate (ASX:BC8) reports that it has started an underground diamond drilling (DD) program at its Paulsens Gold Operation in WA’s East Pilbara region.
The DD program has commenced with a goal of testing near-mine opportunities to grow the existing project resources and to discover another potential ‘Paulsens-style’ deposit.
Drilling will consist of 7,000m of underground diamond drilling across key targets within the project, including the ‘Paulsens Repeat’ structural trend located 200m below and parallel to the decline and extends for about 1,250m.
Other targets include down-plunge extensions of the near-surface Apollo Lodes, which host several ‘high-grade’ intersections outside of the current Mineral Resource Estimate (MRE) and the ‘Gabbro Veins’, which are located adjacent to existing workings and boast a potential strike of 1,000m.
‘High-grade’ intercepts returned from these target areas include 1.25m at 131.50g/t Au from 58.80m (PPDU3754), 1.05m at 66.20g/t Au from 118.40m (PDU2765) and 1.24m at 35.98g/t Au from 18.72m (PDU0430).
Drilling is expected to be ongoing for the remainder of 2022.
Speaking on the drilling program, Black Cat Syndicate’s Managing Director, Gareth Solly said: “Commencement of our first drill program at Paulsens is a ‘significant’ milestone for Black Cat and has the potential to transform the asset for us.
“The asset is target-rich and offers many opportunities to ‘significantly’ grow the resource base near existing underground workings and also find a new, ‘high-grade’ Paulsens-style deposit which would be a game changer for the company.”
The asset is target-rich and offers many opportunities to ‘significantly’ grow the resource base near existing underground workings and also find a new, ‘high-grade’ Paulsens-style deposit which would be a game changer for the company. We will be drilling for several months and hope to be reporting results from this drilling before the end of the current quarter.”
The company also notes that the Paulsens operation has the potential to be host to multi-metal mineralisation and is reinforced by the presence of numerous base-metal (copper, lead and zinc) targets that remain under-explored.
In addition, the DD program has commenced following the completion of regional exploration activities at the project, which included an initial review of the company’s 2018 $2 million 3D seismic survey that successfully identified two additional targets, as announced by the company last month.
Black Cat Syndicate is a WA gold explorer with a vision of becoming a multi-operation gold mining company that creates value and opportunities for its stakeholders through creative thinking and responsible practices. The company’s Paulsens operation is located in the Ashburton Basin within WA’s Eastern Pilbara region and covers a total land area of 530km-square, with Black Cat Syndicate owning 100% of all associated tenements. Production began in 2005 and since then the ‘high-grade’ Paulsens underground mine has recovered 907,344oz of gold at 7.3g/t Au for an average of 75kozpa, leading to a current total project JORC 2012 MRE of 2.9Mt at 2.5g/t Au for 231,000oz.
With the DD program now underway, Black Cat Syndicate announces that it hopes to be reporting on results from this drilling before the end of the current quarter.
Images: Black Cat Syndicate Ltd
