Taruga Minerals (ASX:TAR) reports gold‑silver results from rock chip sampling at the Wenasia and Sipupu prospects in Papua New Guinea.
The company returned 33.1 grams per tonne gold (Au) and 223 grams per tonne silver (Ag) from outcropping quartz veins at Wenasia, marking its ‘highest gold grade’ recorded to date.
Additional results include 26.8g/t Au and 349g/t Ag, and 24.5g/t Au and 205g/t Ag from the same prospect.
At Sipupu, follow‑up sampling located the outcropping source of previously identified float mineralisation, returning 25.2g/t Au and 867g/t Ag, and 18g/t Au and 213g/t Ag.
The results confirm ‘high‑grade’ gold‑silver mineralisation across an 8km corridor, extending from Wenasia in the south to Sipupu in the northeast within the broader Weioko Gold District at the East Normanby Gold Project.
Of 44 rock chip samples collected, 14 returned above 0.5g/t Au and six exceeded 5g/t Au, consistent with an extensive epithermal system.
Chairman Paul Cronin says the results validate the company’s systematic exploration approach.
“This is what disciplined exploration looks like. We flagged the Sipupu float sample as pointing to a source upstream back in July, and we walked straight to it,” Cronin remarks.
“Wenasia has played out in a similar way, with these high-grade results validating a recent Director site visit observation where locals were panning gold in the Wenasia creeks.”
At Wenasia, outcrop mapping identified a 40m exposed epithermal quartz vein system. Five samples across the vein returned grades ranging 1.3–33.10g/t gold.
The Sipupu results stem from systematic follow‑up sampling extending from exploration licence EL2590 into recently granted EL2831. The company successfully traced float anomalism identified in July upstream to locate outcropping mineralisation.
The Weioko Gold District encompasses an 8km mineralised corridor that includes the Weioko Gold deposit, Lataona Hill prospect, and the newly confirmed source veins at Wenasia and Sipupu.
Taruga Minerals has secured a drilling contractor for its maiden diamond drilling program at the Weioko Gold Deposit, scheduled to commence at the end of September.
Write to JC Villarba at Mining.com.au
Images: Taruga Minerals
