DiscovEx Resources has kicked off a 10,000m air-core program at its Edjudina project, about 250km north-east of Kalgoorlie in Western Australia as it looks to drill-test a compelling gold anomaly at the site. The company has been working up its Spartan target over the past few months conducting systematic soil sampling and geophysical survey work.
Management believes the recent gravity program suggests Spartan is ripe for the picking with the anomaly sitting in a “textbook” structural position for gold deposition.
DiscovEx is now looking to plunge a couple of holes at the target as part of the first phase of drilling at the site.
The program will look to evaluate the highly prospective zone beneath Spartan along with several other nearby areas.
Drilling is expected to be completed in mid-September with results expected in October.
The potentially gold-bearing target was initially defined through soil sampling however was recently refined through a 200 by 200m gravity survey. The Perth-based explorer says the results were then used to shape the current drill program at Spartan.
The survey was aimed at outlining the prospect area’s geological setting and complemented previously acquired magnetic data.
A subsequent data review confirmed the presence of a significant intrusive structure to the south of Spartan along with a smaller anomaly further west.
Whilst onsite DiscovEx will also look to test its Falcon gold prospect immediately east. The company will run an infill soil sampling program across the 2.6km long anomaly.
Earlier sampling at Falcon saw the explorer bag samples running up to 48 parts per billion gold and a renewed focus could result in improved scale and grade of the anomaly.
The project area is on the southern rim of the Laverton district in WA and is surrounded by a raft of other notable gold operations including AngloGold Ashanti's 10 million ounce-plus Sunrise Dam and Saracen Mineral Holdings’ 2 million ounce-plus Carosue Dam mine.
Edjudina takes in a handful of granted exploration tenements and is considered prospective for gold and nickel-copper mineralisation.
The project’s core stretches across a 29km strike extent and takes in a sequence of highly prospective greenstone rocks.
Edjudina has seen minimal historical exploration, with previous work between the 1980s and 1990s limited to light drilling programs, soil sampling and geophysics campaigns.
At the time the price of gold was hovering around US$300 an ounce and therefore more costly forms of exploration were deemed uneconomical.
With the price of the commodity currently trending around US$1755 per ounce, DiscovEx has every reason to believe now is the right time for more exploration.
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By Matt Birney
