Gold explorer Godolphin Resources and its joint venture partner Orange Minerals have announced a maiden ore resource for the Calarie project located north of Forbes in central New South Wales.
A recent drilling program of 154 RC drillholes and 32 diamond drillholes, spanning a total 16,690 metres of drilling underpin the maiden ore resource.
The result is a maiden resource which contains 870,000 tonnes of mineralisation, among those tonnes is some 50,796 ounces of gold with an average grade of 1.83 grams per tonne and a cut off grade of 0.3 g/t.
The deposit remains open along strike and at depth. Further exploration will now focus on the northeast strike of the defined resource, targeting the shear along the Parkes Fault.
The Calarie project contains a mining lease and two exploration licences forming a 70 per cent earn-in joint venture if Godolphin Resources spend up to $1.5 million on exploration.
Calarie is another example of a historic gold mine in the Lachlan Fold Belt getting a second chance at life.
Between 1896 and 1908 more than 39,000 ounces of gold were mined at Calarie. The past few years has seen a revival in the area as several historic mines are looked at with fresh eyes. Much of the area’s geological block contains old gold mines that were abandoned after all the shallow gold was found.
Despite the Lachlan Fold Belt being recognised as a well-known copper-gold and rare earths province, this area is considered “well prospected” but not “well explored” as very little modern exploration has been completed.
The Calarie project is in good company as it’s surrounded by some heavyweights. The Cadia-Ridgeway Mine owned by Newcrest and the Cowal Mine owned by Evolution Mining both call this patch of the earth home.
West Perth-based Orange, with assets in NSW and WA, spent $600,000 to snap up about 7.6 million shares in Godolphin’s recent share placement.
Orange now owns about 6.8 per cent of Godolphin.
Godolphin has several projects in NSW’s Lachlan Fold Belt – a world-class gold-copper province that hosts multiple Tier 1 mining projects. The Cyclops prospect, situated approximately 4km north of Yeoval and part of the company’s larger Yeoval project, promises significant copper-gold porphyry potential.
It’s early days but the maiden ore resource suggests the Calarie deposit is a reasonable prospect for economic extraction due to its grade and quantity. Some more drilling will determine if the sausage matches the sizzle.
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