Moonlight Resources has put some serious numbers on the table at its Clermont gold project in central Queensland, defining a significant new exploration target of up to 662,000 ounces of near-surface gold. The study has prompted the company to launch a 13,000-metre reverse circulation (RC) drilling program to test its ambitious new objective.
The exploration target covers three key prospects – Leo Grande, Goldfinger and Petersens. It ranges between 16.2 and 19.8 million tonnes at grades of between 0.94 and 1.15 grams per tonne (g/t) gold, totalling 443,000 to 662,000 ounces of the yellow metal. The company has emphasised that the exploration target is conceptual in nature and at this stage, requires more work to determine whether a gold resource can be identified and quantified in potentially economic terms.
The lion’s share of the target relates to the central Leo Grande prospect, which contributes between 281,000 and 420,000 ounces of gold. The Goldfinger and Petersens prospects add some higher-grade spice, with the southern Goldfinger prospect tipped to potentially contain between 95,000 and 142,000 ounces at a solid 1.2 to 1.5g/t gold. The more northerly Petersons prospect offers the remaining potential - 67,000 to 100,000 ounces of gold at 1g/t to 1.22g/t.
Moonlight’s 13,000m RC drilling campaign is now underway, with the drill bit already probing Goldfinger's potential. The program will drill an estimated 5000m into the prospect, with a further 4000m allocated to Petersens and Leo Grande.
The Clermont project is centred 15 kilometres west of the historic Clermont township, in a hotspot with a strong history of gold mining, producing roughly 400,000 ounces since 1878. The greater region is richly endowed and hosts several multi-million-ounce gold deposits, providing a compelling case for the region’s prospectivity.
Two notable nearby projects within the Drummond Basin - the extensive regional-scale geological complex that hosts Moonlight's Clermont ground - include GBM Resources' one-million-ounce Twin Hills gold resource north of Clermont and its 330,000-ounce Mount Coolon gold project northwest of Emerald and north of Clermont. The Drummond Basin overall is a premier gold province credited with a total historical production and known endowment of up to 7.5 million ounces of gold.
Moonlight's exploration model rests on a solid foundation of historical work combined with its own recent successes. Earlier drilling by the company of an estimated 15,000m at Leo Grande returned a swag of broad, near-surface gold hits, including a notable 42m at 1.01g/t gold from surface and 40m at 1.31g/t gold from 76m.
Moonlight Resources managing director Greg Starr said: "This Exploration Target puts some significant numbers around exactly what excites us about Clermont – the combination of potential scale, gold mineralisation relatively close to surface and the opportunity to test extensions that remain open. We've brought together the historical and recent drilling information at Leo Grande, Goldfinger and Petersens, which gives us a much clearer picture of the potential opportunity and where we intend to focus our efforts."
While gold is Moonlight's primary focus, its Clermont tenure also hosts the Peak Downs copper prospect, a few kilometres south of Clermont, which the company describes as a "high-grade copper sleeper opportunity". This is hardly surprising, given that the prospect was historically mined between 1862 and 1877, reportedly producing around 100,000 tonnes of ore at an eye-watering average grade estimated at 17 per cent copper.
Management is targeting near-term delivery of a maiden gold resource estimate for the Clermont gold project, which will initially incorporate its Leo Grande and Goldfinger deposits. Moonlight also says that it expects to deliver a much-anticipated initial copper resource estimate for the Peak Downs project before the end of the year.
With a significant exploration target now up in lights on the board, Moonlight's focus has shifted to the drill bit and with a hefty 13,000m drilling campaign already in full swing, the market may not have to wait long to find out if this geological model in a highly prospective region can be converted into real gold ounces.
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