Kairos Minerals is far from resting on its glittering gold laurels as the company zeros in on a boost to its existing 1.1-million-ounce resource at its flagship Mount York project in WA’s Pilbara region.
Management says it has recently landed wide hits including 82m at 0.57 grams per tonne gold from 104m, which contained 11m grading 1.25g/t from 135m and 17m running 1.03g/t gold from 169m. Further headline results from another hole at the company’s Main Hill deposit saw a staggering 105m give up 0.53g/t gold from 87m, including 4m at 3.31g/t from 130m and 17m grading 1.01g/t from 174m.
A drill hole at its Breccia Hill deposit also landed 22m at 1.19g/t from 217m, including 6m grading 2.36g/t gold from 225m. And finally, its The Gap deposit joined the party with 46m delivering 0.46g/t gold from 147m, including 4m at 1.6g/t from 163m.
Kairos has now received all outstanding assay results from its 46-hole drilling campaign between September and December last year and it now expects to deliver an update on the current resource this quarter. Of the 11,013m drilled, 5945m were diamond-core and the remainder was RC drilling. The program’s objectives were to test resources below current optimal pit shells and to increase the confidence category of the existing resource.
The company says the results of three of four drill holes show that mineralisation continues to extend at depth after intersecting wide zones of mineralisation below current pit shell optimisations.
Management believes the wide intercepts from both the Main Hill and The Gap deposits, which include multiple intervals of higher grades, demonstrate the potential for multiple high-grade stacked lodes within a broader mineralisation envelope.
Kairos also unveiled results of Specific Gravity measurements on 41 core samples from along its entire Main Trend deposit, returning a fresh mineralised Band Iron Formation average of 3.42 grams per centimetre cubed. It was an increase of 18 per cent from measures revealed in the last resource estimate.
The increase in the density of the core bodes well for the chances of a boost to the mineral resource as the company now embarks on an assessment of its latest results. Wireframe adjustment for lithology and mineralisation characteristics will also be an integral part of the calculations.
Kairos Minerals managing director Dr Peter Turner said: “Mt York is fast emerging as one of the leading undeveloped gold projects in Australia. These drilling results and the new specific gravity measurement demonstrate that the 1.1Moz Resource is set to get even bigger. And we have a host of highly promising regional targets to test.”
Management intends to rapidly progress prefeasibility work to determine the best pathway to a sustainable, long-life mining project while it also juggles mining lease stakeholder negotiations.
Kairos also recently discovered spodumene lithium-bearing pegmatites adjacent to the Mount York gold project and they are currently being evaluated. With world-class lithium deposits nearby at Wodgina and Pilgangoora, it certainly seems a good place to have a crack at lithium exploration.
Mount York sits immediately east of and adjacent to Pilgangoora, which has a resource of 309 million tonnes at 1.14 per cent lithium. The project sits about 50km south-east of the massive 8.5 million-ounce Hemi deposit, owned by DeGrey Mining.
With gold currently trading above the US$2000 mark it would appear to be a good time to again be talking about the precious yellow metal.
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By Steve Kaless
