Mineral exploration company Catalyst Metals (ASX:CYL) has uncovered multiple occurrences of visible gold in eight diamond drill cores from the Boyd’s Dam prospect, located within the Four Eagles Gold Project in Victoria.
The company says this is a ‘breakthrough’ in its push to find extensions of the rich Bendigo Goldfields. The new Iris Zone is situated about 150m beneath the shallow mineralisation at Boyd’s Dam, which underpins the current resource estimate.
Catalyst reports the Iris Zone lies within a near-vertical shear zone striking almost north-south, and contains ‘abundant’ quartz, which is often laminated with arsenopyrite and native gold.
“We have always suspected that there would be stacked gold zones below the shallow Boyd’s Dam mineralisation”
To date, the company says it has identified several ‘high-grade’ areas of mineralisation within close proximity to one another. These areas include Boyd’s Dam, Hayanmi, Pickles, Cunneens, Eagle 5, Bullock, and Iris Zone.
Additionally, Catalyst says these areas of stacked, and repetitive mineralisation have the potential to change the project’s economics, and could eventually be mined from a single access tunnel.
Commenting on the Iris Zone, Catalyst Metals Technical Director Bruce Kay said: “This is a pivotal breakthrough in our hunt for the extension of the Bendigo Goldfield.
We have always suspected that there would be stacked gold zones below the shallow Boyd’s Dam mineralisation but previous drilling has not been done with the optimal orientation. The Iris Zone appears to be very consistent and visible gold is always exciting.”
Catalyst also reports partial assays have been received for some of the 8 holes completed at Boyd’s Dam, but further sampling is required to ascertain the complete interval of interest.
These initial results confirm the presence of ‘high-grade’ gold (Au) mineralisation with hole FEDD047 intersecting 1m @ 150g/t Au; FEDD135 with 1.3m @ 77.9g/t Au, and 5.6m @ 54g/t Au; as well as FEDD078 with 5.5m @ 10.4g/t Au.
The company says drilling results continue to show that Four Eagles is a ‘strongly’ mineralised area and further drilling is likely to define new gold-bearing structures.
The Four Eagles Gold Project is situated along the Whitelaw Gold Corridor, 70km north of the historic Bendigo Goldfield and is considered a ‘major’ structural control of gold mineralisation north of Bendigo.
In Victoria, Catalyst manages the entire Whitelaw Gold Belt, and has interest in 13 exploration licences and 2 retention licences which extend for over 75km along the Whitelaw and Tandarra Faults north of Bendigo, and in other areas north of the Fosterville, and Inglewood goldfields.
The company reports the discovery of the Iris Zone has provided a ‘significant’, ‘highly’ sought after element to the prospectivity of the Whitelaw Gold Belt, and the occurrence of a linked, but discrete ‘high-grade’ mineralised body at depth beneath known mineralisation.
Catalyst also reports diamond drilling is ongoing at the project, with focus placed on targets in the vicinity of the established Boyd’s Dam mineralisation.
Catalyst Metals is an ASX-listed mineral exploration company with a portfolio of ‘advanced’ gold projects. These projects include the Tandarra, Raydarra, Four Eagles, Macorna Bore, and Sebastian projects in the Whitelaw Gold Belt near Bendigo in Victoria, as well as Henty Gold Mine in northwestern Tasmania.
Images: Catalyst Metals Ltd
