Larvotto Resources continues its winning run with its final five drillholes at its Clarks Gully deposit, at its Hillgrove project in New South Wales, returning broad, high-grade gold-antimony intercepts, including 22m at 9.87 grams per tonne (g/t) gold equivalent.
The 59-hole program for 4469m of reverse circulation (RC) drilling was designed to further infill and extend the current 266,000-tonne Clarks Gully mineral resource, which grades 3.8 per cent antimony and 2.0g/t gold for 10.6g/t gold equivalent.
The current measured and indicated resource was defined from surface to a depth of 200m.
The best primary intercept from the latest results is 22m at 9.87g/t gold equivalent derived from 3.26g/t gold and 2.89 per cent antimony.
Other intercepts in the same hole included 3m at 9.15g/t gold equivalent – going 7.42 g/t gold and 0.76 per cent antimony – and 15m at 12.26g/t gold equivalent, with 3.09g/t gold and 4.02 per cent antimony.
It also identified 10m at 16.76g/t gold equivalent - 3.67g/t gold and 5.74 per cent antimony - and 4m assaying 28.31g/t gold equivalent – with 3.68g/t gold and 10.80 per cent antimony.
The two next-best holes yield primary intercepts of 16m grading 10.63g/t gold equivalent and 17m going 3.07g/t gold equivalent.
The campaign is part of Larvotto’s plan to increase Hillgrove’s resource base through extensional exploration and also through infill drilling to convert existing measured and indicated resources into ore reserves.
Larvotto’s earlier data reviews revealed historic drilling of near-surface gold and high-grade antimony mineralisation at Clarks Gully indicated potential for a significant high-grade open pit resource in the short-term, but infill drilling is required.
The Clarks Gully deposit is a steeply-dipping zone of high-grade gold and antimony mineralisation that was previously mined as a small open pit. It remains open in all directions - most notably at depth.
The company launched its exploration drilling program at its Hillgrove project in July, including an initial 5250m of RC drilling at Clarks Gully.
The campaign at Clarks sought to infill the original resource drilling pattern to about 20m spacing and to test for possible extensions, aiming to increase the company’s confidence levels in the deposit ahead of future ore reserve estimation modelling.
Early development of the Clarks Gully resource was prompted by the idea it could supplement production from the already-developed Metz underground mining area just south of Clarks.
Additionally, a big untested soil geochemical anomaly sits immediately south of Clarks Gully which is of a similar intensity to that defined over the main Clarks deposit.
It suggests that Clarks Gully mineralisation could extend southwards from the previously mined open pit and is crying out to be drilled.
Larvotto has included initial testing of the anomaly as part of its evaluation of the immediate area, in light of its obvious potential to increase the overall resource at Clarks Gully.
Larvotto Resources managing director Ron Heeks said: “In the final results released today, we have encountered further spectacular intercepts, including 22m @ 9.87g/t gold equivalent from 36m with individual results of greater than 10g/t gold and 20% antimony. The identified gold and antimony mineralisation is hosted in wide, near-surface, easily accessible zones that will provide high grade gold and especially very high grade antimony ore for the commencement of production.”
Larvotto’s current activity was enabled by a recent $30 million capital raise, ensuring strong ongoing news-flow next year, with multiple drill rigs delineating high-priority targets, Heeks said.
Results from the recent program have refined the current model for the Clarks Gully deposit and highlight areas where further drilling is required.
Drilling to date confirms the deposit comprises multiple narrower, sub-parallel, stacked veins of gold-antimony mineralisation lying east of the thick main continuous high-grade zone.
The program has also defined a south-east trending, steeply plunging zone of high-grade gold-antimony mineralisation, including handsome thicknesses and grades, including the best intercept of up to 22m at 9.87g/t gold equivalent from 36m depth.
Notably, when compared with the depth of the average orebody at Hillgrove, mineralisation at Clarks Gully is very shallow and could reasonably be expected to continue to depth.
Results from the latest drilling will be incorporated into an updated resource estimate in early 2025 and then into a definitive feasibility study, now underway and slated for completion in the first quarter of next year.
Drilling will continue at surface and underground next year and Larvotto will expand its complement of diamond drill rigs to five.
Management says the latest round of drilling at Clarks Gully has been an exceptional program for Larvotto, which it hopes will highlight the upside of the overall area as the company builds its resource inventory.
In terms of future exploration planning and resource development, Clarks Gully sits nearly 4km north of the historic Hillgrove mine, in the northernmost part of the company’s block of mining leases.
It is also at the northern end of the strike-persistent Eleanora-Garibaldi mineralised trend which extends even further north, beyond the mining lease boundary.
Numerous surface and minor underground workings define the trend of the mineralisation and the entire zone remains open to systematic exploration with a very high probability of defining further resources.
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By Doug Bright
