Junior explorer Carnavale Resources (ASX:CAV) has launched a 5000m reverse circulation (RC) drilling program at the McTavish East prospect within its Kookynie Gold Project in Western Australia.
The company, which has a $23.33 million market capitalisation, says the program will comprise 25 drillholes targeting infill and down-dip extensions of the McTavish East area. This will include resource definition drilling to 20m by 20m in the ‘high-grade’ zones.
Carnaval says the program has been designed to follow up on ‘excellent’ extensional gold results from previous RC drilling in the area that identified ‘high-grade’ gold shoots.
Some of the top previous results from the McTavish East area, as reported by Carnavale in early July, include 6m @ 79.21 g/t gold from 97m, including 3m @ 152 g/t gold; 4m @ 75.74g/t gold from 114m, including 3m @ 100.25 g/t gold; and 8m at 13.65 g/t gold from 116m, including 1m @ 25.9 g/t gold and 3m @ 24.5 g/t gold.
Carnavale Resources CEO Humphrey Hale says the outlining of the ‘high-grade’ gold shoots in the area has been a ‘great discovery’ for the company at Kookynie.
“CAV has successfully mobilised an RC rig to start an aggressive campaign of drilling within a month of announcing the exceptional RC drilling results in July.
“CAV has successfully mobilised an RC rig to start an aggressive campaign of drilling”
This substantial 5,000m RC program is designed to infill the known high-grade mineralisation at McTavish East on a 20m by 20m pattern, as resource definition drilling, and chase the high-grade mineralisation down dip and along strike.”
The company says ultimately, its goal at the Kookynie project is to establish a ‘quality’ gold resource of similar size to the historic Cosmopolitan Mine that can be trucked and processed at a nearby processing plant.
Since 2021, the company has defined the McTavish East prospect trend over roughly 2km with aircore drilling.
Carnavale reports that ‘extensive’ gold mining occurred throughout the Kookynie area between 1895 and 1922, including from the Cosmopolitan Mine, which produced more than 331,000 ounces of gold at 15 g/t.
Western Australia-based Carnavale Resources is focused on acquiring and exploring projects prospective for gold, nickel, platinum group elements (PGEs), and ‘strategic’ minerals associated with the electrical vehicle battery sector and other new-age technologies.
The company’s McTavish East prospect within its Kookynie Project lies 15km from Genesis Minerals’ (ASX:GMD) Ulysses Project and 63km from a newly-acquired processing plant at Leonora.
Write to Joshua Smith at Mining.com.au
Images: Carnavale Resources
