Australian gold explorer North Stawell Minerals (ASX:NSM) has extended the gold mineralisation to the north and south at its Forsaken prospect within the Stawell Mineralised Corridor in Victoria.
The company reports the extensions were realised by an 18-hole aircore (AC) drilling program for 1,548m that intersected anomalous gold grades over 550m, including a 250m zone with grades over 1 gram per tonne (g/t) gold.
‘Significant’ intercepts recorded at Forsaken include hole NSAC0586 with 3m @ 1.02g/t Au from 62m and NSAC0595 with 3m @ 1.98g/t Au from 51m.
North Stawell says these results are significant as they extend the gold mineralisation further north by 170m, demonstrate that gold occurs roughly parallel to the margin of an interpreted basalt at depth, and show that ‘significant’ gold occurs south of a historical diamond hole, which was previously interpreted as the southern extent of the mineralisation.
The company reports the targets will be reviewed over winter for required follow-up drilling.
Commenting on the results, North Stawell Minerals Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Russel Krause says the Forsaken AC drilling program has been an ‘exciting success’ for the company, noting the gold grades and extents of the mineralisation are ‘highly encouraging’ and are a target for drilling next season.
“The Forsaken target is interpreted to occur on the western margin of a 9km basalt. The basalt margin is a possible repeat of the geology that hosts the multi-million-ounce Stawell Mine, 40km along strike to the south.
At Stawell, gold-bearing fluids are focused into flexures of faults and shears as they wrap around the immovable buttress of basalt. At the northern end of Forsaken, the basalt is interpreted as being dragged into the regionally significant Pleasant Creek Fault, forming a large, 2km-wide fold. Fault-fold systems are recognised as geometries conducive to focusing gold mineralisation, potentially increasing prospectivity at Forsaken.
Historic aircore drilling at Forsaken included a standout result — 10m @ 1.34g/t Au (GLA204). This impressive result was followed up with a 210.4m diamond hole, and the project was forsaken. With new high-resolution geophysics data, NSM returned to the target in 2022, drilling 31 holes for 1,671m as 4 wide-spaced fences over 8m strike, testing the eastern side of the interpreted fold closure and intersected significant mineralisation 70m north of GLA204 in NSAC0244.
The NSM 2023 aircore drilling was part of the exploration’s phase two programs; drilling inclined aircore holes to establish trends in the mineralisation and focused on the 2 historic results. 3 lines were drilled, each intersecting anomalous gold, and returned 2 more significant results.
NSAC0586 intersected 3m @ 1.02g/t Au 170m north of NSAC0244, extending the +1g/t Au trend to 250, open to the north. NSAC0595, drilled 40m south of the discovery intercept in GLA204, intersected 3m @ 1.98g/t Au.
Despite the modest step-out, this hole has achieved the critical result of demonstrating gold mineralisation south of the historic diamond hole, opening up 4km of interpreted basalt contact to continue exploration. This contiguous anomalous trend has been extended to 500m and is open north and south.
“NSM has rapidly focused on, and efficiently expanded, the Forsaken target”
NSM has rapidly focused on, and efficiently expanded, the Forsaken target. The supporting geophysics and mineralisation models have helped focus effective exploration and targets, and exploration will continue to expand this target along strike and to depth.
Gold anomalism in historic drilling follows the margin of the basalt around the interpreted fold and into the western limb of the structure, suggesting this contact may be highly prospective in multiple areas. Gold values are also interpreted as elevated in association with the gold hinge of particular interest.”
North Stawell is a Victoria-focused gold explorer based in the historic mining town of Stawell. The company holds a ‘world-class’ portfolio of ‘highly prospective’ tenements over 550km-square immediately north of the greater-than-5-million-ounce Stawell Gold Mine.
Write to Harry Mulholland at Mining.com.au
Images: North Stawell Minerals Ltd
