Explorer Kalgoorlie Gold Mining has almost doubled the strike length of its La Mascotte prospect at the Bulong Taurus project to more than 500 metres after tabling impressive results including a 2m gold hit going 16 grams per tonne, saying it still had more results in the pipeline.
The company tabled the drilling results of its Phase 2 RC program where it sank 12 holes into oxidised gold mineralisations at its lead project, 35km east of Kalgoorlie-Boulder, with all holes encountering gold.
The results confirmed the footprint of the La Mascotte orebody was almost doubled, extending by more than 200m and open in all directions.
There were standout intercepts on both the southern and northern side of La Mascotte including 4m going 2.29 g/t gold from 46m in the south and the headline grabbing hit in the north.
Of note was the shallow depth of some of the La Mascotte results including 1m grading 2.06 g/t gold from 1m, 1m showing 2.23 g/t gold from 38m and 2m yielding 3.56 g/t gold from 46m.
KalGold said these shallow depths means it now has the option of open pit mining on its planning table, significantly reducing the capex of a mining operation.
The company added a recently-completed seven-hole diamond drill program had also yielded visible gold at 75m and was now waiting on assay results. The long turnaround time for chemical assays is currently an industry-wide issue.
KalGold is also waiting on RC results from other targets at its Bulong Taurus project, namely the Turnpike, Bennet Dam, and Great Ophir prospects.
KalGold Managing Director and CEO, Dr Matt Painter, said: “Drill testing shows that gold mineralisation at La Mascotte is significantly more extensive than previously defined.”
“With our prospector partners continuing to unearth near-surface gold specimens at and around La Mascotte, and visible gold intercepted in diamond drill core, it is clear that we have only just begun to uncover the extent of gold mineralisation here.”
KalGold said it was building on the latest results. It recently completed the first phase of diamond drilling and has just started the third phase of RC drilling. The Phase 3 RC drill program kicked off last week to test extensions of La Mascotte over 3,700m.
One of the areas to be tested southward along strike from La Mascotte correspond with structural targets, historic gold anomalies in shallow air core holes and recently defined strong gold shows from auger drilling. The campaign will test for gold mineralisation to around 1600m south of La Mascotte and more than 400m to the north.
Combined with previous results, KalGold said the latest figures suggest gold intercepts occur within thick zones of sub-grade mineralisation and alteration that correlate between drill holes.
Boding well for the project’s metallurgy, it noted metals that can impede gold recovery such as silver, antimony and arsenic are very low, as are sulphur levels in both oxidised and fresh rock samples.
Taken together, the company said the characteristics suggest straightforward gold recovery at La Mascotte, with a lower economic breakeven point compared to deep-seated, high-arsenic style deposits.
Resource modelling and new metallurgical test work are going to be key elements of its future planning for the development of La Mascotte, according to KalGold.
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By Matt Birney
