Middle Island Resources’ massive 50,000m-plus drilling campaign this year has reaped a mind-boggling array of high-grade gold hits from its historic Sandstone gold project 12km south of Sandstone in the East Murchison mineral field in WA. The conga line of positive results from its phase one and phase two RC and diamond drilling programs that were predominantly aimed at upgrading existing deposits, infilling and extending five new satellite open-pit deposits saw the overall gold resource estimate at Sandstone climb to the latest total of more than 730,000 ounces.
The most recently updated inferred and indicated resource inventory numbers for Sandstone stand at 19.89 million tonnes grading 1.14 grams per tonne for 732,100 ounces of contained gold, equating to an increase of 40,100 ounces that came in the space of less than three weeks last month.
Middle Island has now delivered the final cluster of high-grade gold intersections from its 2020 drilling blitz covering 10 deposit extensions and new discoveries, marking the receipt of all resource definition assays from the 50,000m drilling phases.
Most notable new phase-two drill intersections were 7m going 6.49 grams per tonne gold from 60m and 4m at 5.32 g/t from surface at the Ridge deposit, and 3m at 29.8 g/t gold from 56m and 4m at 5.82 g/t from 46m at McClaren, complementing their earlier phase one RC bonanza gold intercepts. The latter included 4m at a whopping 99.5 g/t from 13m, 4m at 50.5 g/t from 3m and 9m at 5.41 g/t from 10m at Ridge, and 4m at 90.6 g/t from 60m at McClaren.
Ridge and McClaren – which make up two of the five new satellite amigos, with the other three being McIntyre, Old Town Well and Plum Pudding – lie just 2.5km north-east of company’s mothballed Sandstone gold processing plant. The dynamic duo are likely to further boost the global gold resource base at Sandstone to around three-quarters of a million ounces, if not more.
Middle Island’s various open-pittable deposits at the Sandstone project, all located inside 2.5km of the 600,000 tonnes per annum CIL treatment plant, are currently being optimised for final open-pit mine designs in order to determine what proportions of the multiple resources can be converted to mineable ore reserves status. The reserves will then be included in its forthcoming definitive feasibility study, or “DFS”.
The ASX-listed aspiring gold developer is looking to complete the DFS on the proposed redevelopment of the old Sandstone gold mining operation by the start of next year.
In conjunction with its final flurry of impressive drill results from the Ridge and McClaren deposits, Middle Island acquired an approximate 10 per cent shareholding in fellow Sandstone gold hopeful, Alto Metals, for about $3.5 million.
Perth-based Alto’s Sandstone gold project hosts a latest stated inferred and indicated resource of 6.22 million tonnes at 1.7 g/t gold for 331,000 ounces of contained gold.
Both companies have their sights on resuscitating gold mining days at the historic Sandstone goldfield district where between 1999 and 2010 Troy Resources produced 508,000 ounces of gold from about 4.4 million tonnes of open-pit ore that yielded an average grade of 3.6 g/t gold.
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By Matt Birney
