Augustus primes rig after WA Leonora gold soil blitz

Augustus Minerals has pushed the accelerator on geochemistry at its Music Well gold project north of Leonora in Western Australia’s Eastern Goldfields, after finishing a 1,173 soil sample auger campaign.

The program was designed to see through the thin soil veneer and home in on vein systems already breaking surface at the company’s Clifton Dodd’s and St Patricks targets, while running first pass coverage across the newly identified nugget trend at its Golden Dingo prospect.

The company says samples are with the laboratory for gold and pathfinder analysis and results are expected in a matter of weeks.

The work follows orientation soils at St Patricks that mapped an east northeast anomaly for about 600 metres, where cross cutting northwest structures appear to focus the best grades - useful structural geometry for drill collars. Heritage surveys over Clifton East, Dodd’s, St Patricks and Black Cat wrapped up in late August and the final report is due imminently, with preparations and a preferred contractor already in place. Drilling is slated to start the moment the paperwork lands.

If the soils samples deliver what the geology suggests, they will extend outcropping mineralisation under cover and help rank targets for a maiden drill program. The story has been building all winter: rock chips up to 122.8 grams per tonne gold at Dodd’s, visible gold at Teutonic East and multi ounce grades across a spread of prospects. Those numbers are still at the reconnaissance level and not part of a resource, however they speak to a fertile system that certainly deserves some attention from the drill bit.

Augustus Minerals chief executive officer Dr James Warren said: “While we await the Heritage Survey Report, our geologists have covered the ground with soils to sharpen the drill plan across Clifton Dodd’s, St Patricks and Golden Dingo. Results are due in the coming weeks and, on receipt of final clearances, we intend to start drilling immediately. It’s a tightly sequenced program designed to test the best structural intersections first.”

Context matters in this part of the Eastern Goldfields – a region with more than 28 million ounces of gold production under its belt.

Music Well sits within reach of some serious producers. Red 5’s Darlot mine lies to the north, while its King of the Hills and Thunderbox mines sit to the west. To the southwest is Genesis Minerals’ Leonora camp.

Augustus has stitched together more than 1,300 square kilometres across the district. Geologists also believe regional structures step off those camps into Music Well - the kind of deep tapping corridors that move metal. The regional address does not make a deposit, however, it does raise the odds that gold bearing fluids have passed through.

Another layer of colour is emerging from state survey work pointing to sanukitoid intrusions inside the tenure - an intrusive rock type that sits alongside several of the Goldfields’ better known camps. This lines up with the pathfinder minerals seen in Augustus’ chips, including gold with silver, tellurium and bismuth, and helps explain why high grade quartz veins are popping out across multiple corridors.

Operationally, the company has been clearing the decks for a clean run at discovery. Heritage protection has been formalised with the Darlot traditional owners and surveys completed, while a new chief executive has stepped up, with a track record of moving prospects to drill-ready targets and doing deals.

The treasury was also topped up with a $1.675 million placement to fund the drill start and support the geochemical assaying. The cash balance post raise was pitched at about $2.75 million, more than enough to get the first-phase drilling program underway.

From a targeting point of view, the priorities are obvious. Clifton East has nearly a kilometre of mapped veining with gram level averages over multiple samples and hematite altered granite between veins showing anomalous gold.

St Patricks shows similar vein chemistry and structure, with soils now extending the picture under cover. Golden Dingo bring more gold into play, with nuggets lining up with key structures. When combined with geochemistry and geology, it often points the way to nearby sources and usually shortens the path to a discovery hole.

The next inflection is simple, with soils and heritage sign off green lighting the rig. If those grids light up extensions of the outcrop and the rig can walk straight onto priority targets, the coming quarter should carry meaningful drill news flow. Investors have seen plenty of Goldfields stories fade; Augustus now needs to turn rock chip sizzle and structural theory into fresh metres and credible assays.

Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact: matt.birney@businessnews.com.au