Indiana fires up drill rig for SA Gawler Craton gold search

South Australia-focused explorer Indiana Resources has launched into a 3,600m aircore drilling campaign in the prospective Gawler Craton. The drilling is along strike from the company’s Minos prospect where it previously reported multiple stellar drill hits including 38m going 6.54 grams per tonne gold. Assay results from more recent drilling at Minos are due soon and diamond drilling is also on the cards.

Indiana holds a tenement package covering more than 5,000sq.km at its 100 per cent-owned Central Gawler Craton gold project.

The Gawler Craton is best known for major copper resources with mining major BHP’s Olympic Dam mine and ASX-listed OZ Minerals’ Prominent Hill operations being amongst the stand-outs.

However, gold has also featured in Gawler Craton discovery annals with the historically significant Tunkillia gold project adjoining the southern boundary of Indiana’s landholdings. Tunkillia has a current 965,000-ounce gold resource.

Indiana has been dishing up impressive gold intercepts at Minos, located along the Lake Labyrinth shear zone, including 26m at 4.28 grams per tonne from 68m,19m at 2.88 g/t from 78m and 5m at 24.35 g/t from 106m.

Results from a further 2,196m of recently completed reverse circulation drilling at Minos are pending. Management expects to receive results from the 16 holes drilled along the Lake Labyrinth shear zone in the next two weeks.

The company sees the shear zone as a priority target and the newly commenced air-core campaign will test a 6km-long corridor to the north-west of Minos.

Indiana’s drilling will also test part of the Lake Labyrinth shear zone south-east of from Minos and nearer to its Ariadne prospect where previous drilling hit 6m going at 4.05 g/t and 11m at 2.44 g/t gold.

Indiana anticipates the air-core campaign to be completed in two weeks with results forecast for release in July.

Management says a further 7km of strike along the shear zone will be tested after heritage clearance approvals are granted. Indiana also plans deeper reverse circulation drilling to follow-up any identified anomalous gold mineralisation from the current air-core campaign.

Meanwhile, a diamond drilling campaign at Minos is due to commence next week.

Three reverse circulation holes from earlier in the year were drilled as pre-collars and will now be completed with diamond tails. Indiana is looking to obtain drill-core from the diamond drilling to develop a better geological and structural understanding of mineralisation at Minos.

One of the diamond tails is planned to drill beneath the mineralisation from the bumper intercept that returned 38m at 6.54 g/t from 28m including 16m at 13.12 g/t gold from 37m.

The angled drill core from the hole will provide Indiana with further information on the internal orientation of high-grade veins within the Lake Labyrinth shear zone.

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