Great Southern unlocks fresh upside at shallow WA gold play

Great Southern Mining has unveiled shallow gold hits at its Mon Ami project in Laverton, Western Australia, hinting at a potentially new parallel lode that could expand the deposit’s existing 55,500-ounce resource. 

2146 metres of aircore drilling was completed, targeting gold anomalies to the north of the existing 1.56 million tonnes resources grading 1.11 grams per tonne (g/t) 

Standout intercepts included one hole, which returned 2m at 2.56g/t gold from 62m, sitting within a broader 10-metre section grading 0.77g/t gold, confirming saprolite-hosted gold directly beneath a surface anomaly. 

Another hole delivered two more columns of 2m at 1.86g/t gold from 20m and a 2-metre strike of 0.74g/t gold from 62m. These hits sit alongside a historic shallow intercept from 2018, which featured 4m at 2.5g/t gold, suggesting a promising new parallel structure emerging.

Mon Ami is still wide open to the north and down plunge and it already sits on a granted mining licence with much of the key permitting in place.  Given its proximity to operating and planned gold mills, the project could shape up as a very handy near-term development opportunity.

Great Southern says it is lining up follow-up drilling to grow the existing resource, with the aim of fast-tracking Mon Ami toward a potential near-term development opportunity.

Great Southern Mining managing director Matthew Keane said: “The recent assay results at Mon Ami highlight the potential for new gold lodes offset and parallel to the existing resource. We are building a better understanding of the mineralised system and we believe there may be several high-grade splays associated within the broader Barnicoat Shear Zone. 

Elsewhere, the company is also chasing gold at its Amy Clarke prospect, another emerging exploration play that is quickly moving up the priority list.

The gold mineralisation at Amy Clarke sits within a 4.7km-long corridor that looks to be hosted in a high-grade fractionated dolerite - a lookalike to Kalgoorlie’s fabled Golden Mile. 

A long-overdue follow-up air-core program in 2025 at Amy Clarke turned up some impressive thick discovery intercepts, including a 17m hit grading 1.4g/t gold, including 1m at 11.2g/t gold.

Although the company continues to push out the boats with an aggressive exploration program across its broader Duketon gold project, including ongoing RC drilling at Golden Boulder and follow-up work at Amy Clarke, it is Mon Ami that appears to offer a more advanced counterpoint in the portfolio.

With encouraging shallow hits now in hand at Mon Ami, depth potential still to chase and a supportive gold price backdrop, Great Southern has a range of value-adding paths in play across its gold portfolio - and it seems the market is starting to wake up to its potential.

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