Maritana drills freshnew gold target 400m metres from WA processing hub

Maritana Minerals has fired up the drill rigs at a compelling new gold target just a stone’s throw from its major Black Swan processing hub (BSPH) currently under construction in Western Australia’s Eastern Goldfields.

The company has commenced a 4000-metre air core drilling program at its Wilsons gold prospect located a mere 400 metres from the BSPH. The campaign marks the first significant gold-focused drilling in an area where historical exploration was almost exclusively aimed at nickel.

Maritana is targeting a substantial gold-in-soil anomaly defined earlier this year that stretches over an area of more than 2.5 kilometres by 1.5 kilometres. The anomaly appears to be more than just a geochem ghost with supporting evidence including the discovery of gold nuggets, quartz veins grading up to 1.25 grams per tonne (g/t) gold and historical nickel-focused drilling that clipped some interesting gold mineralisation, including a hit of 0.4 metres at a solid 6.41g/t gold.

Maritana is targeting a substantial gold-in-soil anomaly defined earlier this year that stretches over an area of more than 2.5 kilometres by 1.5 kilometres. The anomaly appears to be more than just a geochem ghost with supporting evidence including the discovery of gold nuggets, quartz veins grading up to 1.25 grams per tonne (g/t) gold and historical nickel-focused drilling that clipped some interesting gold mineralisation, including a hit of 0.4 metres at a solid 6.41g/t gold. 

The proximity of the Wilsons prospect to the BSPH is clearly significant. Any economic discovery could potentially be fast-tracked into the mine plan, providing a valuable, low-cost source of ore for the new plant.

Maritana Minerals managing director and chief executive officer Grant Haywood said: "The Wilsons gold prospect is a compelling, near-infrastructure discovery opportunity. Sitting within view of the BSPH and on a granted Mining Lease, any discovery has high potential to be a valuable future source of feed for Black Swan. This first-pass aircore program is designed to test what lies beneath a very strong surface anomaly and to build the geological understanding for follow-up drilling..."

The Wilsons drilling program is just one piece of a much larger, fully funded strategy to transform Maritana into a significant new gold producer. The company is sitting on a war chest of $229.5 million in cash and is pushing ahead with the refurbishment and construction of its 2.5-million-tonne-per-annum BSPH.

To feed the beast, Maritana has already commenced a massive 60,000m resource conversion drilling program across four of its key projects, Boorara, Coote, Gordons Dam, and Crake. The primary goal is to upgrade its existing 1.88-million-ounce gold resource base from the Inferred to the higher-confidence Indicated category which will de-risk and extend the life-of-mine plan for the BSPH.

The company has already stockpiled about 460,000 tonnes of ore containing 14,600 ounces of gold from its Boorara project, which will provide the initial feed to commission the plant.

In addition to its large-tonnage projects, Maritana also holds the historically high-grade Burbanks gold project, which once produced 324,000 ounces of gold at a stunning average grade of 22.7g/t. Recent drilling at Burbanks North delivered some equally impressive results including 4.2m at 42.43g/t gold from 289.63m depth, which contained including 1.37m inside at 126.93g/t gold. The same hole also gave up a separate hit of 0.3m at 54.02g/t and 1.81m at 13.82g/t from 207.41m depth.

While Maritana is methodically advancing its burgeoning portfolio of known deposits toward production, the new drilling at Wilsons highlights that it is still very much on the hunt for new discoveries. Uncovering a new, high-grade ore source right on the doorstep of its brand-new processing hub could be a gamechanger for the emerging producer. With the drill rods now turning, punters will be keenly watching for results expected in late September or early October.

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