Great Boulder Resources (ASX:GBR) is conducting a multi-faceted exploration campaign to accelerate the Side Well Gold Project in Western Australia towards a million-ounce resource target.
Over 21,000m of drilling is expected to be completed by December 2024, with aircore drilling at Mulga Bill already underway.
At Side Well, an initial aircore drilling program will test several prospective targets. This will be the first drilling by Great Boulder Resources in an area interpreted to be an extension of the same hydrothermal system hosting the Ironbark and Saltbush discoveries further north.
Great Boulder, which has a market capitalisation of $33.96 million, says aircore drilling will also be conducted at Saltbush to test geochemical anomaly striking north-northwest over 2km from the prospect.
Once Mulga Bill North and Saltbush drilling is completed, the rig will return to Mulga Bill to continue drilling immediately north of the resource to allow further resources to be estimated — extending Mulga Bill into the Mulga Bill North area.
A reverse circulation drilling program at Mulga Bill will also be conducted to infill areas of inferred mineral resource to upgrade them to the indicated category. Drilling will also test extensions to mineralised veins at depth in some areas.
In August, a diamond drill rig will be mobilised to site at Mulga Bill. The program will drill two 550m deep holes, which are designed to stay within the mineralised corridor and test interpreted series of stacked, north-plunging “high-grade” veins to 500m below surface.
Great Boulder says a small aircore drilling program will also test the Matilda prospect, which sits northwest of Mulga Bill. The rig will then return to Saltbush to complete a small reverse circulation drilling program designed to allow resource estimation on the mineralisation defined to date.
Meanwhile, in late October, the rig will go back to Mulga Bill North for a reverse circulation drilling program designed to define mineralisation with sufficient confidence for an initial inferred resource estimate.
Managing Director Andrew Paterson says with the pipeline of prospects at Side Well, as well as the current 668,000 ounce mineral resource, the company is confident there are enough targets to deliver a resource of at least one million ounces of gold.
“The Side Well hydrothermal gold system now spans more than 18km, a massive area which includes intrusive-related and orogenic gold targets,” he says.
“This work will be incorporated into a resource update at the end of the year. We’re also anticipating new discoveries coming into the resource inventory next year, with two very exciting large-scale targets at Side Well South which will be drilled in September.”
While fieldwork is underway, Great Boulder’s metallurgical consultants will undertake a series of tests on samples from Mulga Bill, examine the leach characteristics and gold recoveries within a range of oxide and fresh samples from the orogenic gold veins, and the lower grade intrusive-related mineralisation.
Further, as previously reported, a series of three heritage surveys is planned to clear new targets for drilling at Side Well South and the Polelle Project.
The Side Well Gold Project comprises a mineral resource of 7.45 million tonnes @ 2.8 grams per tonne gold for 668,000 ounces of gold.
The Roundup
Write to Aaliyah Rogan at Mining.com.au
Images: Great Boulder Resources
