Provenance Gold (CSE:PAU) has discovered a new zone after drilling the first core hole at the Eldorado Gold Project in Eastern Oregon, US.
Drillhole EC-01 was drilled to a depth of 338.18m and returned 2.01 grams per tonne gold over 288.34m, including 3.07g/t gold over 175.26m.
The new zone sits below the previously known mineralisation which has returned 13.18g/t gold over 13.69m, including 21.70g/t gold over 6.10m.
Last week, the company engaged Boart Longyear as its new drilling contractor for the Eldorado project. It will work closely with Longyear via its key operator to ensure the drill program is efficient, effective and on budget.
Reverse circulation drilling is expected to begin in early March, weather permitting.
Provenance will this month start a drone-based airborne magnetic survey at Eldorado. The survey will be conducted by Zonge International and is designed to further refine the understanding of mineralised structures and to uncover additional property-wide exploration targets using the resultant 3D voxel model to be generated from this data.
The strong correlation between highly mineralised drillholes, magnetic and IP data suggests that a high resolution 3-D magnetic survey will be a very valuable tool to assist in accurately defining drill targets.
Chairman Rauno Perttu says the aforementioned first hole extends the zone found in last year’s reverse circulation drilling by over 65m to 183m with at least three distinct higher grade zones.
“Our work this autumn has confirmed the presence of several broad, strongly mineralised zones that stretch across the property in a criss-cross pattern that was confirmed by surface mapping, geophysics and computer modelling,” Perttu says.
“We are extremely pleased with the results of EC-01 and are excited to receive the core results on the remaining drillholes. We are now planning a much larger drill program for 2025 to extend the mineralised zones further and test other prospective zones that appear to be broader and more intensely altered than our initial ones.”
The mineralised corridor remains open below 200m and along strike.
Provenance Gold is a precious metals explorer focused primarily on gold and silver within North America.
The Eldorado project hosts a large structurally controlled gold system, currently defined by 241 historic drill holes and 14 drillholes by Provenance. The gold system remains open in all directions.
Gold mineralisation is primarily associated with an altered diorite intrusive, with historic regional magnetic surveys demonstrating a strong correlation between mineralization and magnetic destruction caused by mineralising fluid flow. Provenance’s recent Induced polarisation (IP) survey, along with historical regional magnetics, has highlighted structural pathways for the mineralising fluids.
This year’s staged 10,000-plus metre reverse circulation and core drilling program is focusing on expanding and infilling known mineralised areas while also conducting a major step-out program to explore new areas beyond previous drilling identified through geological mapping, prospecting, and geophysical and LiDar surveys.
Write to Aaliyah Rogan at Mining.com.au
Images: Provenance Gold
