Westgold Resources (ASX:WGX) reports it has commenced a diamond drilling program targeting gold at the ‘high-grade’ Great Fingall Deeps Project, located in Western Australia.
The company believes Fingall Deeps represents a near-term development opportunity with ‘significant’ potential to expand its gold production from financial year 2024.
The objective of the drilling program is to test an additional 250m of down-plunge mineralisation beneath the currently defined mineral resource to expand and provide greater certainty of the deeper gold resources.
The company reports this information will then be used to inform a subsequent planned Feasibility Study to bring Great Fingall and Golden Crown into production targeting 20,000 to 25,000tpm @ 5g/t to 6g/t Au.
Westgold says the drill program will comprise around 10,000m drilled from 3 parent holes, each with a multitude of daughter holes to provide at least a further 10 drill intersections of the Fingall Reef system.
The company expects the program will take around 4 months to complete, and results will be reported as they become available.
Westgold Managing Director Wayne Bramwell said this drilling is a major milestone for the company.
“Grade will always be king and high-grade gold assets like Great Fingall are rare.
“Grade will always be king and high-grade gold assets like Great Fingall are rare”
As such we are taking a very measured and systematic approach to its evaluation during financial year 2023.
The size of the prize here is large as Great Fingall is a key pillar of our growth strategy.
It targets production of more high-grade tonnes from our portfolio into financial year 2024 to enhance our profitability and we look forward to announcing results from this program as they become available.”
The historic Great Fingall gold mine, along with the nearby Golden Crown gold mine is located 6km southwest of Cue in the Murchison region of Western Australia.
The company reports collectively, these 2 mines have historically produced around 1.5Moz of gold from ‘high-grade’ quartz reefs hosted by the Great Fingall Dolerite.
Drilling completed by Westgold and its predecessors to date has defined Indicated and Inferred Mineral Resources totaling 1.11Mt @ 8.52g/t Au for 305,000oz.
Westgold states the majority of these mineral resources are located within a 300m continuation of the westerly plunging reef system below the base of the historic workings (around 700m below surface).
A deep exploration hole drilled by Westgold in 2019 confirmed the mineral resource remains open as the hole intersected the Fingall Reef system 900m down plunge below the base of historic workings.
Great Fingall mineralisation is related to a simple quartz vein and reef system which strikes northwest and dips 60º southwest with associated ‘flatter’ hanging wall and footwall spur reef systems.
Westgold is a Western Australia-based gold producer with tenements covering over 1,300km-square in the Murchison and Bryah Basin.
The company currently operates 6 underground mines, several open pits and 3 processing plants with a capacity of around 4Mtpa.
Images: Westgold Resources Ltd
