Australian gold production company Red 5 (ASX:RED) has identified new zones of gold mineralisation following first-pass aircore (AC) drilling at its Yandal South Gold Project in Western Australia’s Eastern Goldfields region.
The results, generated by 122 AC drillholes conducted across the project’s Coodawa and NW Structure deposits, have returned multiple intervals of gold mineralisation associated with quartz and visible sulphides along 1.2km strike, with gold zones remaining open at depth and along strike.
The company notes initial observations demonstrate gold mineralisation is spatially associated where the northwest structures intersect stratigraphic boundaries.
“These positive reconnaissance exploration results at Yandal South are very encouraging”
Adding on, it is reported many of the mineralised holes ended in anomalous gold, indicating that the mineralisation continues deeper into the bedrock.
Drilling comprised 2 separate AC programs totalling 5,708m of drilling and was conducted to test high-priority targets across the prospective but underexplored South Yandal area, proximal to the Ockerburry Shear Zone, a ‘major’ regional-scale fault system linked to gold mineralisation at both target areas.
Speaking on the results, Red 5 Managing Director Mark Williams said: “These positive reconnaissance exploration results at Yandal South are very encouraging, with the aircore drilling confirming significant gold anomalism. We are now planning to undertake a seismic survey over this area to help identify structural and lithological features for targeting during the next round of drilling.”
The company also notes sample re-splits at 1m intervals from the mineralised zones have been submitted for analysis, with assays currently pending.
In addition, initial assays demonstrate gold anomalism associated with northwest-trending structures interpreted from the magnetics, suggesting a suboptimal drill orientation has been used, and the structural setting is similar to the NW Structure prospect.
Multi-element assays are currently pending, and it is expected that pathfinder results should assist in narrowing the search space.
With first-pass AC drilling now complete, Red 5 announces further drill programs are planned to follow up on these new gold intercepts in order to test other high-priority areas within the prospective exploration tenure.
Red 5 is an ASX-listed gold producer with a strong institutional shareholder base with a ‘significant’ number of international and domestic institutions, including cornerstone investors Victor Smorgon Group, Franklin Resources (NYSE:BEN), Regal Funds Management and Electrum Group. The company’s Yandal South project is situated within prospective and underexplored tenure about 20km west of its Darlot Gold Mine at the southern end of the gold-rich Yandal Greenstone belt.
The project is host to a regional-scale north-northeast trending Ockerburry Shear Zone, which represents a major geological structure linked with gold mineralisation in the region, as well as a 4km long and 500m wide Dingo Ridge Gold prospect located in the north-central part of the tenement package.
Other assets within Red 5’s exploration arsenal include the King of the Hills Gold Mine about 28km north of the township of Leonora in Western Australia.
Images: Red 5 Limited
