Great Boulder Resources (ASX:GBR) has confirmed continuous gold mineralisation over 400m of strike at the Mulga Bill North prospect, as part of the Side Well Gold Project in Western Australia.
The company completed a 13-hole for 2,039m aircore drilling program at Mulga Bill North, which also confirmed shallow gold zones from 40m below surface.
Some of the latest assay results returned include 17m @ 1.39 grams per tonne (g/t) gold from 49m, including 3m @ 3.39g/t gold from 61m and 14m @ 1.77g/t gold from 70m, including 1m @ 4.80g/t gold from 70m.
Great Boulder, which has a market capitalisation of $28.56 million, says the mineralisation orientations are consistent with its previous interpretation, and also consistent with those seen at Mulga Bill.
Multiple lode orientations are present, with a dominant major northeast-trending lode and subsidiary vertical and west-dipping vein system.
Managing Director Andrew Paterson says the latest results provide two breakthroughs.
“Firstly, we’ve hit zones of shallow gold mineralisation 40m below surface, supporting our view that Mulga Bill North can make an important contribution to the Side Well resource inventory with real potential for a large-scale open pit mining,” Paterson says.
“Secondly these new intersections fit our previous interpretation, with multiple lodes similar to Mulga Bill and good strike continuity. We have mineralisation over 400m extent along strike, with only a small amount of additional drilling required to bring this area into resource.”
Paterson adds that there are five holes remaining, as part of the aircore drilling program, which were unable to be completed due to wet weather conditions.
The rig will be heading back to Mulga Bill North shortly to finish these holes.
“In other news we have also identified gold mineralisation beneath a surface geochemical bullseye northwest of Saltbush,” Paterson says.
“The gold is coincident with strongly elevated arsenic near a mafic-ultramafic contact, so it fits the Ironbark and Saltbush mineralisation style. We intend to head back there and complete more drilling shortly.”
At the Saltbush prospect, regional aircore drilling has confirmed gold in a similar setting to Ironbark, with drillhole 24SWAC273 returning 1m @ 0.41g/t gold from 76m.
Further drilling is planned to continue testing this area.
While reverse circulation drilling is currently underway at the northern end of Mulga Bill, a diamond drill rig is drilling the second of two deep holes into Mulga Bill. The drilling aims to define stacked high-grade veins up to 500m below surface.
Once reverse circulation drilling is complete, the rig will move onto a resource definition program at Mulga Bill, designed to upgrade priority areas of inferred resource to higher confidence JORC indicated category.
Great Boulder says the program will also provide sample material for metallurgical testwork, which will begin in September 2024.
Great Boulder Resources is a mineral explorer focused on its gold and base metal projects in Western Australia.
Gold prices are forecast to remain elevated throughout 2024 and 2025, before easing slightly in 2026. The current spot price is $3,748.32 (US$2,469).
At the beginning of Q2 2024, the price reached a new all-time high of $3,511 on 3 April. The World Gold Council says April was a time to shine for gold, which posted a 4% gain and ended the month at US$2,307 per ounce, driven by Chinese buying and central banks.
On 20 May, it was sitting at $3,650 per ounce, representing a 2% increase compared to April. The start of July the price of gold is $3,487.18 per ounce.
The World Gold Council says total gold supply in 2023 increased 3% year-on-year as mine supply and recycling both posted growth – to total 4,898.8 tonnes.
Australian gold production decreased by 4% year-on-year in the March quarter 2024, due to lower grades and disruptions from heavy rainfall, according to the Department of Industry, Science and Resources’ (DISR) latest issue of its Resources and Energy Quarterly: June 2024.
Write to Aaliyah Rogan at Mining.com.au
Images: Great Boulder Resources
