Kaiser Reef (ASX:KAU) has commenced surface diamond drilling at the Maldon Gold Project in Victoria, targeting four prospects across an initial 4,350m program.
The company has started drilling at the Quill gold target, identified through tailings storage facility sterilisation drilling and follow-up resistivity surveys.
Previous drilling at Quill returned 8m at 4.16 grams per tonne gold from 10m in hole TSAC_021, including 2m at 9.90g/t gold from 11m.
The surface program will progress to three additional targets. Union Hill North will test northern extensions to Eaglehawk Reef mineralisation ahead of planned underground drilling.
Nuggetty South targets 170m of untested strike between known mineralisation along a newly interpreted shallow plunge.
Historical drilling returned 3.4m at 34.0g/t gold and 4.3m at 11.2g/t gold along plunge. The program will also target the Nuggetty west lode and remnant targets.
Managing Director Brad Valiukas says Maldon remains ‘substantially underexplored’ despite historically producing 1.75 million ounces at 28g/t.
“We see a long and continuing pipeline of surface exploration opportunity and expect to maintain a surface rig for the long term, complementing underground activity at the Union Hill Gold Mine,” Valiukas adds.
The Quill target emerged from Kaiser’s recently completed aircore program at the proposed tailings storage facility location.
A reconnaissance resistivity survey highlighted a high-resistivity zone trending north-south, coincident with the TSAC_021 intersection, interpreted as a potential quartz reef.
The company expects drilling to extend throughout 2026, with additional surface targets being developed from mapping, soil sampling, and an upcoming helicopter-borne magnetic survey.
Kaiser Reef operates the Henty Gold Mine in Tasmania, which has a 199,000-ounce gold ore reserve and targets annual production of approximately 30,000 ounces.
The Maldon Gold Project features a fully permitted 200,000-tonne-per-annum processing facility and existing underground access.
Write to JC Villarba at Mining.com.au
Images: Kaiser Reef
