Great Southern jags high-grade gold in first assays from WA project

Great Southern Mining has jagged high-grade gold with an eye-opening intercept of 1 metre grading 70.94 grams per tonne (g/t) gold within a 5m section of 14.57g/t gold from 41m at its Duketon gold project in Western Australia’s Eastern Goldfields.

The company's 3678-metre reverse circulation drilling campaign to test earlier identified shallow mineralisation kicked off in January and is now complete. If the impressive results of the first 18 holes are anything to go by, the Perth-based gold explorer will likely be champing at the bit at the prospect of assays from the remaining 20 holes.

In the shallower sections, the drill bit hit 8m going 1.77g/t gold from 27m and 6m grading 1.19g/t gold from 46m.

The drilling program at the company’s Golden Boulder prospect follows exploration programs in 2021 and 2024 that demonstrated consistent near-surface mineralisation with intercepts such as 4m grading 5.64g/t gold and 8m at 3.90 g/t gold. 

Plunging into the deeper zones the rig also picked up sniffs of high-grade mineralisation, including 1m at 18.21g/t gold within a 2m intercept of 12.56g/t gold from 99m and 1m running at 5.64g/t gold from 105m. 

Another deep hole intercepted 1m at 3.9g/t gold at 86m depth and a secondary 1m strike grading 5.56g/t gold within a 3m slice at 2.85g/t gold from 120m.

Great Southern Mining managing director Matthew Keane said: “This latest round of drilling at the Golden Boulder prospect continues to feature shallow gold mineralisation with a propensity for high-grade intervals. GSN’s geological team are building confidence in their targeting in this region and are consistently hitting mineralised shears close to modelled locations.”

The company says the hits at depth are a thrilling addition to the prospect and have opened the intriguing possibility of even bigger treasures lying beneath emanating from three deeper lodes stretching across almost 500m of strike. 

The Golden Boulder prospect area has a rich history of old-timer production dating back to the early 1900s, making it a prime target for discoveries using modern exploration techniques.

It also sits on a prominent shear zone in the well-known north-south trending Duketon greenstone belt, where it is surrounded by Regis Resources' broader 8-million-ounce Garden Well project. 

Garden Well already hosts multiple large deposits, including the 2m ounce Rosemont gold mine, the 380,000-gold-ounce Baneygo pit and the Ben Hur orebody containing 390,000 ounces of gold.

Highlighting the prospectivity of Great Southern’s grounds, the massive Gold Fields Limited-owned Granny Smith gold mine is 40 kilometres south and the AngloGold Ashanti gold-owned Sunrise Dam gold operations are a little further south again.

The two mega operations have produced more than 10 million ounces of gold combined, highlighting the region’s enormous mineral potential. Their proximity could also present a strategic advantage for Great Southern, positioning it within spitting distance of world-class mining infrastructure and expertise.

Apart from the company’s focus on discovering and developing a resource at its Duketon gold project, Great Southern has teamed up with mining giant Gold Fields Ltd in a joint venture to hunt for massive porphyry gold-copper systems at its sprawling Edinburgh Park project in Queensland.

A recent induced polarisation survey at Edinburgh Park has uncovered two large-scale intrusive-related anomalies. 

The Leichhardt Creek prospect is a colossal 2km-wide geophysical anomaly that has raised hopes of a big gold-copper system or a rich epithermal gold deposit.

The Mt Dillon prospect has similar markers to Leichhardt Creek and lies beneath a massive silicified lithocap covering several square kilometres.

Adding to the intrigue, the induced polarisation survey lit up with chargeability signals at 200m to 300m deep, hinting at the possibility of a sulphide-rich, well-preserved porphyry system lurking beneath.

With assay results still to come, Great Southern’s latest drilling campaign could be a game-changer for the company, particularly in a surging gold market where high-grade, near-surface and quick-to-develop gold discoveries appear to be drawing the punters’ attention. 

Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact: matt.birney@businessnews.com.au