Great Boulder Resources (ASX:GBR) is looking to streamline an initial resource estimate for its Side Well South prospect within its flagship Side Well Gold Project in Western Australia.
A reverse circulation drill rig is now at the prospect to continue defining gold mineralisation north of the Golden Bracelet area, before an aircore drill rig is expected to arrive at the greater project by the end of August.
The company intends for aircore drilling to aid its growth and discovery program into early 2026.
This comes after the company returned ‘high-grade’ intercepts outside the current lode interpretation at the Eaglehawk prospect, as well as Ironbark drilling results exceeding the current resource grade.
Drilling at Eaglehawk extended for 4,544m with 27 reverse circulation drillholes, including 21 resource definition holes within the deposit and six in between the Mulga Bill and Eaglehawk areas.
Great Boulder has received the first assays from the first 10 holes, with the remaining expected soon.
Resource definition drilling at Eaglehawk intersected 8m @ 29.18 grams per tonne gold from 128m including 4m @ 54.80g/t gold from 128m, 4m@ 14.85g/t gold from 196m to end of hole, and 6m @ 7.03g/t gold from 98m including 1m @ 26.20g/t gold from 99m.
Managing Director Andrew Paterson says the company intends to confirm the orientation of the new zones with further drilling as the geological logging suggests two or three new west-dipping veins.
“These are some fantastic intersections from Eaglehawk, which demonstrates the capacity of this gold system to deliver high-grade surprises,” Paterson says.
“All of these intersections are outside the dacite target lithology which is where we’ve seen the really high grades in previous drilling.”
Meanwhile, the company has also returned assays from an infill drilling program at the Ironbark prospect, which spanned 655m for five reverse circulation drillholes to aid technical studies ahead of a mining approval application.
Infill drilling at Ironbark returned 9m @ 4.97g/t gold from 144m including 1m @ 33.40g/t gold from 149m and 11m 3.72g/t gold from 105m including 7m @ 5.33g/t gold from 105m.
Paterson adds that the infill drilling program at Ironbark provides further scope for depth extensions under the current pit design.
“Our waste characterisation drilling at Ironbark has also delivered good news, with an intersection at the bottom of the current resource which is thicker and higher grade than we expected,” Paterson says.
Located near Meekatharra in Western Australia, the Side Well Gold Project has a current resource estimate of 668,000 ounces @ 2.8g/t gold.
Great Boulder Resources is a mineral explorer focused on developing ‘high-quality’ gold and base metals in Western Australia, primarily focusing on the Mulga Bill deposit within its Side Well Project.
Write to Maddison Elliott at Mining.com.au
Images: Great Boulder Resources
