Great Southern Mining and global giant Gold Fields have uncovered fresh geological clues from maiden drilling at the duo's Mt Dillon target in Queensland, with early smoke signals hinting at the potential for a big copper-gold system ahead of confirmatory assays in the coming weeks.
The fully funded 1535-metre, two-hole program was designed to test a large-scale intrusive-related gold system (IRGS) at Edinburgh Park, under an earn-in agreement that allows Gold Fields to spend up to A$15 million on exploration for a 75 per cent stake in the project.
The project itself sits in a monster gold province 100km south of Townsville, a region known for its huge epithermal and IRGS deposits. The highly anticipated program at Mt Dillon was designed to test a tantalising induced polarisation (IP) chargeability anomaly lurking beneath a preserved lithocap, with early indicators suggesting further exploration may be needed to chase up on the promising geological fingerprints.
Great Southern says both deep diamond holes were extended well beyond their planned depths to 762.1m and 772.8m respectively after intersecting visual evidence of a potentially sizeable mineral-rich structure. Core logging observations revealed a 60m to 80m-wide fault zone near the surface, followed by volcanic and intrusive rocks showing pervasive alteration and disseminated pyrite (iron sulphide) commonly associated with epithermal gold mineralisation.
Drill core from the lower sections of the holes contained several hydrothermal breccia zones with stronger alteration and pyrite content of up to five per cent. The company says the alteration, widespread sulphides and breccias are all consistent with the presence of an intermediate-sulphuration epithermal system - hot, mineral-rich fluids from a source below.
Great Southern Mining managing director Matthew Keane said: “We eagerly await assay results of this maiden diamond drilling program at Mt Dillon. This is a big target with multiple geological facets that make it attractive for a large-scale IRGS discovery.”
The 1447-square-kilometre project lies in premier elephant country for copper-gold deposits, with the region hosting the 10-million-ounce Ravenswood gold system, the 3-million-plus-ounce Mt Leyshon deposit and the 2-million-ounce Mt Carlton operation.
Exploration activity elsewhere in the north Queensland gold belt remains white hot, highlighting continuing interest in the district’s potential for additional large-scale gold and copper systems prime for major players with deep pockets like Gold Fields.
Although Gold Fields may not be a household name among ASX investors, the South African gold behemoth has certainly put its name on the map recently, lobbing a whopping A$38.7 billion takeover bid at Australia’s biggest gold producer, Northern Star Resources. The bid was rejected, but it would have created the world’s second-largest gold producer and underlines the scale of the company now backing Great Southern’s exploration push at Edinburgh Park.
With the drill rods now silent at Mt Dillon, all eyes will be on the assay labs. The company says core processing is nearing completion, with the first results expected to start trickling in between late October and early November.
With a global gold giant such as Gold Fields running the show and footing the bill, Great Southern finds itself in an enviable position. Given the first whiffs of a copper-gold prize in the drill core and the backing of a deep-pocketed major, there is likely to be considerable interest in whether the pending assays can deliver the goods.
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By Andrew Todd
