Perth-based gold explorer Great Southern Mining has continued to build scale and momentum at its Golden Boulder discovery in Western Australia’s gold-rich Duketon belt, extending known mineralisation to an impressive 3.5-kilometre strike along the interpreted Rosemont Shear Zone.
The final assays from last year’s 56-hole RC drilling program have delivered a string of impressive shallow gold intercepts that firm up continuity along the Golden Boulder Main Line trend and open up fresh ground to the south.
Best hits included 5 metres grading a solid 3.5 grams per tonne (g/t) gold from 39m, with another 2m intercept running at 1.1g/t gold from 74m. A third hole coughed up 8m at 1.1g/t gold from 45m and featured a 4-metre slice at 2.2g/t, while a fourth intercept pulled in 2m at a stunning 5.0g/t gold from 86m.
However, the gold story doesn’t end near surface, with drilling below 70 metres delivering solid hits that reinforce the presence of stacked mineralised lodes throughout the shallow system. As most drilling at Golden Boulder remains less than 100m below surface, this leaves substantial depth potential largely untested.
The latest results have poured fuel on the fire, building on earlier reverse circulation (RC) campaigns, which also intersected some quality gold hits such as 5m at an eye-catching 14.57g/t gold from 41m, including a 1-metre slice running at a whopping 70.94g/t gold.
The aptly named Golden Boulder project sits along a prolific north-south structural corridor that houses several multi-million-ounce operations, including Regis Resources’ Rosemont deposit and Genesis Minerals’ Laverton tenure.
The geological architecture is interpreted as a series of stacked lodes within the Rosemont fault zone, a whopping 60-kilometre-long structure that hosts multiple gold deposits owned by ASX-listed Regis Resources. Those include the two-million-ounce Rosemont gold mine and the 380,000-ounce Baneygo deposit, both key parts of Regis’ broader Duketon gold camp.
Gold in the area is hosted in a fractionated dolerite, a doppelganger to Kalgoorlie’s fabled Golden Mile. Great Southern believes that if the stacked lodes occur as regularly and to depth as the lodes do in Kalgoorlie, then Golden Boulder could quickly shift from an interesting discovery to a serious resource candidate.
Notably, historical drilling at the site has only been shallow and sparse at best, with very few holes exceeding 40m. However, the old timers still dug out a hefty 1,915 tonnes running 28.6 g/t gold for 1,761 ounces along a 3.7km strike line, underlining the system’s pedigree.
This time around, the ground is being given a proper workout.
Great Southern Mining managing director Matthew Keane said: “We have successfully achieved all desired outcomes, including significant strike extensions to known mineralisation, improving continuity of mineralisation in the north of the prospect and defining new mineralisation in previously undrilled areas in the south. Importantly, drilling to date is still very shallow. The team are excited for the upcoming EIS co-funded diamond drilling, due to commence in the coming weeks.”
The upcoming diamond program has been successful in securing co-funding through the Western Australian Government’s Exploration Incentive Scheme and will target deeper structural controls, which are assumed to be the drivers behind multiple gold trends across the prospect. More broadly, these holes will deliver an updated stratigraphic and structural model to help with future targeting.
Great Southern will also be back on the ground in early April, pumping out more RC drilling to chase higher-grade extensions and infill areas, working towards a maiden JORC resource.
With gold mineralisation now defined across an impressive 3.5km of strike in one of WA’s most productive gold belts, and most drilling still shallow, Golden Boulder is rapidly shaping into a discovery with legs.
In a buoyant gold price environment, shallow ounces with growth upside in the right postcode tend to attract attention.
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