Junior explorer Nagambie Resources (ASX:NAG) has struck a new record assay result from its namesake mine in Victoria, reporting grades as high as 340 grams per tonne (g/t) gold.
The hit comes from diamond hole NAD028 in the mine area, occurring 60m vertically below the surface in the Nagambie Mine Thrust and spanning 0.2m from 144.5m deep.
Nagambie says this intersection opens up the likelihood that the NMT could host high-grade shoots along its known strike length of at least 2km. For reference, high-grade shoots along thrust faults are the primary mineralisation model for Agnico Eagle’s (NYSE:AEM) Fosterville Mine.
Other new significant gold intersections from Nagambie’s exploration work include a 0.4m hit grading 27.1 g/t gold from 151.3m in hole NAD047.
Nagambie says it’s busy progressing with a maiden inferred mineral resource estimate for the Nagambie mine, due for reporting before the end of March 2024.
Shares in Nagambie Resources were up 16.67% to $0.028 as of midday AEDT on 30 January 2024.
Nagambie Executive Chairman Mike Trumbull says the new 340g/t hit follows the discovery of the C1, C2, C3, and N1 lode systems under and to the west of the West Pit in the Nagambie mine area.
“The high-grade underground mineralisation being drilled at the Nagambie Mine is now showing attributes of both Costerfield-Mine-style and Fosterville-Mine-style.
The laboratory checked the 340g/t Au assay 3 times and confirmed that it was real.
With no visible gold, and no visible sulphides, the assay represents fine, free gold within the quartz vein.”
“The laboratory checked the 340g/t Au assay 3 times and confirmed that it was real”
Trumbull adds that the volume influence of gold nuggets in quartz can be ‘very limited’, but the volume influencer of fine, free gold, by its nature, can be ‘significantly greater’.
“With the deepest intersection to date occurring only 250m vertically below surface, we have only scratched the surface of what could be a major high-grade antimony-gold orebody.”
All up, Nagambie says it has intersection 40 economically mineable intersections to date in the mine area with a weighted average of 3.7m downhole, 1.6m estimated horizontal thickness, and 14.5g/t AuEq (5.4% antimony and 4.7/gt gold).
Further, the average antimony grade in the area of 5.4% makes the Nagambie mine underground discovery home to the highest-grade antimony mineralisation in Australia and some of the highest in the world, according to the company.
As far as gold goes, Nagambie says the mine has an average gold-equivalent grade of 14.5g/t Au, or roughly 0.47 ounces per tonne, which is 4.8 times the estimated mineable cut-off grade of 3g/t AuEq. This paves the way for ‘potentially very low operating cost, very high operating margin’ mineralisation.
Write to Joshua Smith at Mining.com.au
Images: Nagambie Resources
