Dateline Resources (ASX:DTR) reports it has a 2012 JORC-compliant Mineral Resource Estimate (MRE) of 20.9m tonnes at 1.2 grams per tonne for 813,000 ounces at its Colosseum Gold Project in California, US.
The company reports that of the total MRE, 258,000oz @1.2g/t Au (32%) are classified as Measured, 322,000oz @1.2g/t Au (39%) as Indicated, and 235,000oz @1.3g/t Au (29%) as Inferred.
The MRE is reported at a cut-off grade of 0.48 g/t Au.
Commenting on the resource update, Dateline Managing Director Stephen Baghdadi said: “An 813,000-ounce Mineral Resource of which over 70% is in the Measured and Indicated category is an excellent starting point for the Colosseum Project.
“Significantly, the Mineral Resource Estimate is open at depth, with further drilling being planned to assess the depth potential of this breccia pipe deposit.
Significantly, the Mineral Resource Estimate is open at depth, with further drilling being planned to assess the depth potential of this breccia pipe deposit
The recent diamond drilling program validated our belief in the geology of the system, and we are extremely pleased to be delivering a Mineral Resource of this scale as our first estimate for the project.”
The MRE for the Colosseum Gold Mine was primarily based on information compiled by the previous operators in the decade prior to 1993. Later stages of mining focused on expanding the existing reserves to feed the mill, not exploration drilling at depth.
Dateline acquired a significant volume of hardcopy data as part of the Colosseum acquisition in 2021. The data collected by the previous operators was to a very ‘high-quality’ level, enabling a database that reflects the deposit to be collected and analysed.
All of the drillhole data was reviewed and loaded into a relational database, building the first 3D view of the mine.
In order for the company to use the historical data and report to JORC-2012 standards, a program of confirmatory drillholes was completed.
These drillholes confirmed the mineralisation identified by previous operators and provided the confidence for the MRE to be completed.
Dateline is preparing plans to drill beneath the Mineral Resource model using a directional diamond rig to minimise surface disturbance and allow for multiple deviated drillholes to be drilled from the same collar position.
The Colosseum deposit is located at the southern end of the Sevier foreland thrust belt in the southern Basin and Range Province.
The deposit is associated with emplacement of a breccia complex into Precambrian basement rocks. The complex is comprised of two felsite (also called “rhyolite” and “rhyolite felsite”) breccia pipes that form a northeast-southwest elongate complex, which contains mineralised zones of disseminated auriferous pyrite.
