KalGold air core blitz to chase Pinjin gold strike extensions

Kalgoorlie Gold Mining has fired up the drill rigs again to launch a new air core drilling program to chase down extensions at its budding Lighthorse gold discovery near Pinjin in Western Australia’s famed Laverton Tectonic Zone.

The fresh campaign will plunge up to 5500 metres of drill holes into the dirt across the 2.4-kilometre Lighthorse corridor over the next three weeks. 

Using a systematic 160m by 80m grid pattern, the drill rigs will be tasked with extending coverage 1400m north of the initial discovery holes, while also cleaning up patchy historic drilling over 1000m to the south. 

The southern section is also home to Newmont Mining’s historic T15 prospect, which hit rich grade at depth and has been marked up as a high priority target.

Adding to the momentum, KalGold has also finalised a follow-up reverse circulation program to deliver a one-two punch of infill and extensional drill testing. 

New target areas that emerge from the air core work will be fast-tracked onto the reverse circulation hit list, providing what the company suggests could be a string of near-term news catalysts.

Kalgoorlie Gold Mining managing director Matthew Painter said: “Recent RC drilling at Lighthorse indicates that KalGold has latched onto a previously unrecognised primary orogenic gold system that extends beyond the footprint of that initial confirmatory program. We see significant size potential at and around Lighthorse, with several kilometres of additional strike extent to be drill tested with the current air core program.”

The company hit the headlines two months ago after an air core drilling program revealed a set of uber-rich hits from a shallow supergene blanket, including a 17m intercept grading 4.81 grams per tonne (g/t) gold from 48m and 8m at 9.12g/t gold from 52m.

A 16-hole reverse circulation program was quickly rolled out to test for high-grade primary mineralisation under the oxide as the potential source of the gold - which also hit paydirt.

Standout intercepts lit up the results sheet, with 9m at 3.52g/t gold from 58m, including a red-hot 2m going 13.65g/t. Deeper drilling snared 3m at 5.52g/t from 133m, with a juicy 2m at 7.92g/t tucked inside. Another cracking intercept delivered 5m at 2.64g/t from 147m.

Notably, management said the high-grade hits are wrapped in broader gold halos, including a hefty 32m at 1.14g/t and 12m at 1.29g/t, pointing to a potentially large and fertile hydrothermal system.

Lighthorse is just one part of KalGold’s strategic landholding within the broader Pinjin gold project. Sitting 140km northeast of Kalgoorlie and 25km up the road from Ramelius Resources’ fast-tracked 1-million-ounce Rebecca gold project, it is smack-bang in the middle of one of WA’s hottest gold corridors.

The 30M-ounce Laverton Tectonic Zone is no stranger to monster gold deposits, with the likes of Sunrise Dam, Wallaby, Granny Smith and Anglo Saxon all lurking to the north. If Lighthorse follows a similar geological script, KalGold could be sitting on a seriously valuable prize.

KalGold already has a track record of discovering shallow, potentially open-pittable gold ounces on a shoestring budget. The company has previously unearthed more than 214,000 ounces of gold across its WA grounds at a discovery cost of just $4.60 per ounce. 

This portfolio includes a 138,000-ounce resource grading 1.19g/t at the company’s La Mascotte deposit near Kalgoorlie and a 76,400-ounce resource at its Pinjin’s Kirgella Gift and Providence prospects.

With drills spinning, targets multiplying and a string of exploration successes already in the bag, KalGold appears to be shaping up as a serious player in WA’s next wave of gold development.

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