GoldArc Resources (ASX:GA8) is looking to test the Zone 2 discovery on tighter drill spacing after confirming a blind gold system at the Whistler prospect within its Leonora South Gold Project.
The company’s second round reverse circulation (RC) drilling program at the project, located in Western Australia, intersected previously untested gold mineralisation beneath first round aircore anomalies.
Ten holes totalling 894m targeted gold mineralisation at depth across the prospect on tenement E40/415.
The strongest results came from holes NIC120 and NIC121, which followed up the Zone 2 gold anomaly. Hole NIC121 intercepted three separate veins including 2m @ 4.12 grams per tonne gold (Au) from 70m, including 1m @ 5.22g/t Au from 70m, plus 2m @ 0.80g/t Au from 75m and 1m @ 2.27g/t Au from 82m.
NIC120 returned 2m @ 2.66g/t Au from 63m, including 1m @ 4.79g/t Au from 63m; and 1m @ 0.50g/t Au from 67m and 2m @ 1.61g/t Au from 70m. The hole also returned 1m @ 324 parts per million tungsten from 63m.
GoldArc observed that mineralisation occurs within strongly fractionated tonalite and is associated with moderate chlorite alteration, minor quartz veining, and pyrite. The gold mineralisation is accompanied by silver, bismuth, cerium, and tungsten, with both holes displaying strong europium enrichment.
Managing Director Paul Stephen says the results confirm a “genuinely blind gold system” at Whistler with no surface expression and no history of drill testing before this program.
“Results like these are exactly why we continue to test our first-round aircore anomalies at depth across Leonora South, and we look forward to tightening the drill spacing around Zone 2 to define its extent,” Stephen says.
The second round program followed up four zones of gold anomalies identified along the southernmost drill fence during the first round aircore program completed in March. Zone 1 returned 1m @ 7.20g/t Au from 46m in hole NWAC038, while Zone 2 coincides with a soil anomaly of up to 89 parts per billion Au.
GoldArc is planning follow-up around defined gold anomalies at Whistler on closer-spaced grids, while RC drilling aims to test for higher-grade zones at depth along open southern strike extents at the Yttria Project’s two newly defined gold corridors.
GoldArc Resources is a mineral explorer with a portfolio of gold projects in the Leonora and Kookynie districts of the Eastern Goldfields. It is focused on developing its 100%-owned Mt Stirling and Mt Stirling Well gold deposits in WA.
Write to Paula Fabe at Mining.com.au
Images: GoldArc Resources
