Corazon Mining has cleared a vital regulatory hurdle after successfully wrapping up heritage surveys across its primary target areas at the Feather Cap gold project in Western Australia.
The milestone clears the decks for the company's maiden reverse circulation drilling campaign, with the first holes slated for the September quarter.
Rigs will be deployed to test shallow, high-grade oxide gold mineralisation alongside key structural extensions within a proven, gold province that includes the Fortum, Peak Hill, Horseshoe and Labouchere mining centres managed by WestGold, which have to date produced 2 million ounces of the yellow metal.
Corazon’s upcoming campaign is set to target its Wembley and Durack East/Jigsaw prospects, both of which lit up in historical drilling.
Wembley is a particularly strong target, as it sits within a granted mining lease, providing the company with a streamlined regulatory pathway and swift development options, should the drill bit bite.
Previous shallow drilling at Wembley returned solid near-surface gold intercepts, highlighted by a standout 7-metre hit grading 6.21 grams per tonne(g/t) gold from 6m, featuring a richer zone of 2m running at a hefty 18.33g/t gold from 8m.
Additional historical highlights at the prospect included 4m at 2.3g/t gold from 19m depth and 8m grading 1.1g/t gold from 17m.
Just down the road, drilling at the Durack East/Jigsaw prospect will test for the direct extension of fellow ASX-listed Great Boulder Resources’ nearby 112,000-ounce Durack gold deposit. Corazon believes its tenure covers down-strike and down-dip extensions of this mineralised system, where historical drill holes have already come up trumps.
Top historical results from the prospect include a thick 35m at 1.47g/t gold from 32m, including a 5-metre slice at 5.13g/t gold. Another hole pulled out an impressive 8-metre interval at 4.5g/t gold from 87m, which included a richer one-metre core at a whopping 26.7 g/t, while a third hole delivered 20m grading 3.01g/t gold from 40m.
Corazon Mining managing director Simon Coyle said: “Completing heritage at Feather Cap is an important step in advancing toward drilling. It allows us to move directly into finalising our RC program at Wembley and Durack East/Jigsaw.”
Feather Cap is one piece of Corazon's growing Western Australian gold portfolio, but the company's immediate focus is firmly fixed on transforming its newly acquired flagship Chalice gold project into its next major value driver.
Corazon snapped up the 191,000-ounce Chalice project from Westgold Resources in May in a $25.7 million cash-and-scrip deal that will see the Australian gold producer emerge with a strategic 19.9 per cent stake in the company. The acquisition hands Corazon a resource already sitting on a granted mining lease in WA's prolific Eastern Goldfields, while simultaneously aligning it with one of the state's biggest gold miners.
The company’s local stable also features the Two Pools gold project in WA’s Plutonic-Marymia greenstone belt, whilst its international footprint extends to Canada, where it holds the Lynn Lake nickel-copper-cobalt sulphide project.
With the cultural clearances now firmly in hand, Corazon says it’s moving swiftly to finalise the size of the program and the specific drill hole designs for both Wembley and Durack East/Jigsaw.
The company is currently locking in a drilling contractor to mobilise a rig to site for a September quarter start as it builds up its regional exploration momentum.
With a major regional producer like Westgold Resources holding a takeover threshold 19.9 per cent stake in the company and the drill rods about to spin to pierce some high-grade targets, Corazon looks to potentially be one to watch as the all-important assays start rolling in later this year.
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By Murray Ward
