Aurumin launches gold-coined drilling at Plum Pudding deposit

Aurumin has kicked off its latest 1600m drill program and will launch into its prospective Plum Pudding deposit where a mouth-watering 18m drill hit graded 25.8 grams per tonne (g/t) gold at its Central Sandstone project, about 520km northeast of Perth.

The company also plans to target extensional and infill drilling at its Shillington deposit and aims to soon breach the million-ounce milestone at the project. 

The Plum Pudding and Shillington deposits stretch across three mining leases, while the Central Sandstone project has a mothballed 500,000 tonnes per annum carbon-in-leach processing plant that requires refurbishment.  

Aurumin has its hands firmly grasped on the 946,000-ounce gold resource across its flagship Central Sandstone and Johnson Range projects.

Central Sandstone comprises a gold resource of 881,000 ounces with open-pittable material consisting of 7.622 million tonnes grading 1.3g/t for 307,400 ounces.

Its underground resource at the project consists of 10.8mt going 1.6g/t gold for 573,900 ounces.

The company also has a 64,700-ounce gold resource grading 2.51g/t gold at its Johnson Range project, combining for a total resource of 946,000 ounces across the two projects.

Management says drilling is expected to be completed prior to the Christmas break and results are expected early next year.

As part of the drilling at Shillington, Aurumin will prioritise and test interpreted controls to high-grade mineralisation within a north trending corridor, along with a previously untested banded-iron-formation hosted structural target.

Work at the Plum Pudding deposit will follow the eye-opening hit of 18m running 25.8g/t gold from 30m that got the market interested in the project recently.

The mineralisation at Plum Pudding occurs as a sub-vertical zone of quartz veining within a corridor of sheared ultramafic rocks.

A series of drill holes will be plunged into the ground to test for strike extensions to the sheared zone to the north and south.

Aurumin’s managing director Daniel Raihani said: “I look forward to recommencing exploration and resource drilling at our highly prospective Central Sandstone project. Results from this program and field mapping and sampling which is currently underway will assist in defining further drill targets for testing in 2025.”

The company says regional exploration field work is ongoing with sampling and mapping across its sizeable 520km project area.

An assessment of drilling requirements has also taken place at its Gwendolyn gold deposit, with a program of works submitted and drilling expected to occur next year.

Aurumin will be looking for the type of drill results that would see it not merely knocking on the door of the million-ounce club but kicking it off its hinges, as it joins a coveted group at a time of ever-higher gold prices.

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