Barton Gold is striking up the banjos as deep drilling of its ‘Deliverance’ target continues to return auriferous results. The company’s drilling program below its Perseverance open pit at Tarcoola is rapidly outlining a large mineralised system, that not only remains open along strike but also seemingly continues to a significant depth.
The drilling of two deep holes below the south-west corner of the mined pit have intersected multiple zones of gold mineralisation at more than 200m below surface. Drill hole TBM0035 returned three significant intercepts including 6m at 1.78 g/t gold from 237m with 1m at 7.64 g/t gold from 240m, 3m at 2.37 g/t gold from 263m and 7m at 1.85 g/t gold from 271m.
The shallower drill hole, TBM035 also intersected two zones of mineralisation including 6m at 1.10 g/t gold from 223m and 1m at 3.45 g/t gold from 241m. Drill hole TBM035 is located above TBM 037 and further to the west.
These drill holes seemingly validate Barton’s structural and geological modelling, which is based upon the results of recent geophysical surveying and has been used to predict, and target, the presence of ‘deep-seated’ mineralised faults that extend well into the Tarcoola basement rock.
Barton Gold Managing Director, Alexander Scanlon said:
“Combined with the recent identification of a new ~200m long ‘Perseverance West’ gold zone, and additional infill confirmation of the ~500m long Deliverance Target, these results clearly validate the previously unrecognised potential of the Perseverance Pit’s immediate extensions and the broader surrounding prospectivity along strike and to depth.”
“The mineralisation around the Perseverance Pit remains open to strike and depth with limited historical drilling. Taken together with the findings of the Company’s recent 2D seismic and other geotechnical analyses these intercepts are strongly supportive of significant additional investment in follow up drilling.”
Barton’s Tarcoola gold project is located 600km north-west of Adelaide and consists of 1,200 square kilometres of highly prospective gold tenure in the revered Gawler Craton. The project is accessed via significant infrastructure surrounding the mothballed Challenger gold mill located 120km to the north-west of Tarcoola.
The company’s detailed structural and geological modelling of the Tarcoola region has revealed that the structures hosting the gold mineralisation at the historic mining centre are more extensive than previously recognised. Aided by regional geophysical datasets, including magnetics and deep seismic profiles, modelling has highlighted a broad regional gold-bearing trend that extends across the Tarcoola goldfield.
The testing of the deeper drilling targets below the Perseverance pit has unearthed a splay of this regional structure, dubbed the Perseverance Shear Corridor, or “PSC” which is a broad pervasive structure that extends through the Tarcoola mine stratigraphy and the granitic rocks of the Paxton Igneous Suite. The PSC is highlighted as a zone of intense deformation hosting multiple arrays of auriferous quartz veins and is typified by the presence of distinctive chlorite-sericite-sulphide alteration.
Whilst the PSC has been modelled at a simple level, an ongoing structural study of the terrane by industry experts, Model Earth, is beginning to zoom in on the specific small-scale structures across the Perseverance mine environs that may host significant gold mineralisation and require drill testing. These structural studies will be further enhanced by the use of the Geological Survey of South Australia’s Hylogger technology that is providing detailed geochemistry and spectral analysis of the company’s drill samples.
With Barton Gold’s detailed predictive geological modelling beginning to bring home the bacon, the ongoing exploration program across the Tarcoola region looks to be homing in on the key structures at Perseverance. The company is clearly hoping this will facilitate improved drill targeting at both Deliverance and additional prospects across the resurgent goldfield as they are bought to light through the company’s innovative exploration program.
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