Emerging gold explorer Augustus Minerals is set to launch into a diamond drilling program at its Clifton East prospect, part of the company’s 1242-square-kilometre Music Well project 25 kilometres north of the historic gold mining town of Leonora in WA’s Eastern Goldfields region.
The planned two-hole campaign will follow up on gold mineralisation intersected during the company’s recent reverse-circulation (RC) drilling campaign into its prospective ground. It expects the diamond holes to provide valuable alteration, structural and density information on the mineralisation, along with the interpreted dip.
The first diamond hole will be hammered into the ground down-dip of two previous RC holes that intersected promising gold intervals, including 11 metres grading a solid 2.41 grams per tonne (g/t) from a shallow depth of 32 metres. The hit also featured an impressive 1-metre core running at 7.9g/t, in addition to an 11-metre stretch that notched up 0.92g/t from a depth of 69m.
Augustus recently sharpened the picture at Clifton East after one-metre re-assays of its original four-metre composite samples revealed higher-grade shoots, including the standout 7.9g/t gold hit. Based on the results from the first hole, the second diamond hole will home in further on the best targets generated from the initial diamond hole.
Management anticipates the program will take three weeks to complete, with assays expected in mid-September. It says assays from its recent June drilling at Clifton East should roll in the door in about two to three weeks.
Augustus’ large 1242 sq-km ground sits within what could only be described as serious elephant country. The project site is surrounded by renowned operating gold mines, such as Vault Minerals’ Darlot mine, which sits 12km to the north and Vault’s King of the Hills operation 20km to the southwest.
Gold giant Northern Star Resources’ 4.3 million-ounce Thunderbox gold mine is 20km to the west, with Genesis Minerals’ high-grade Hub gold deposit to the east of the Music Well site.
Augustus Minerals general manager exploration Andrew Ford said: “Our understanding of the mineralisation geometry and controls continues to evolve at Clifton East. The core drilling will provide us with some solid rock and be the first chance to see the mineralisation in its original form – something you can’t get from RC drill chips.”
Ford says they also plan to orient the drill core to provide dip and strike directions of the mineralised zones and provide insight into the major shallow-dipping shear zone.
The company plans to conduct soil sampling at its other priority areas, including Black Cat East and Teutonic East, once the diamond drilling program is complete.
Augustus recently unveiled global gold behemoth Gold Fields Limited as its second-largest shareholder, with the South African gold giant taking a five per cent equity position on its register after tipping A$550,000 into a recent placement.
Elsewhere, the company is seeking a strategic foothold in Papua New Guinea, one of the world’s biggest gold and copper-producing nations, lodging several applications in highly prospective regions across the island country.
Augustus believes Music Well shares strong similarities with Norton Gold Fields’ Golden Cities cluster of deposits, totalling 1.4 million ounces of gold, 35km north of the juggernaut gold mining town of Kalgoorlie.
Management says the Golden Cities deposits comprise one of the biggest granite-hosted Archaean gold systems in Australia and are hosted within a sanukitoid-type mafic granitoid. It notes the Geological Survey of Western Australia has identified sanukitoids at Music Well, highlighting the potential for a similar style of discovery.
If the company can prove up gold mineralisation anywhere near the same level of scale found at Golden Cities, Augustus would find itself at the front of Western Australia’s exploration charge.
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By Craig Nolan
