Moonlight Resources has stayed true to its name, working after hours to set the rods spinning at its Queensland Clermont gold project just as the company made its debut on the ASX.
Moonlight secured the forgotten Clermont gold project – a 265 square-kilometre landholding in one of Queensland’s most historically productive gold belts - from Diatreme Resources for 16.25 million shares and a token $250,000 in cash.
Although the broader district has produced more than 6.5 million ounces of gold, much of the ground in the Leo Grande trend – the first prospect to feel the bite of the bit - has seen little modern systematic drilling.
Previous operators peppered the system with about 70 holes and hit pay dirt more than once, pulling hits such as 46 metres grading 1 gram per tonne (g/t) gold from near surface, 22m running at 2.25g/t gold from 40m and 19m going 3.35g/t gold from 34m depth. In short, the region has form and the scorecard is already looking spicy.
Work by Plutonic Resources and Canadian giant Noranda in the early 1990’s saw shallow, widely-spaced holes drilled, often less than 140 metres deep, leaving significant gaps and unresolved continuity along strike.
The company is now plunging 2000 metres into the prospective corridor designed to validate existing gold mineralisation and extend the footprint.
Moonlight Resources managing director Greg Starr said: “We’re pleased to report that on field exploration has commenced immediately, with Moonlight’s first drilling programme already underway at our flagship Clermont project in Queensland. Clermont offers multiple walk-up drill targets, with historical intersections demonstrating consistent gold mineralisation across a well-defined structural corridor.”
Armed with $10 million from its heavily subscribed IPO, the explorer is primed to accelerate exploration with a further 10,000-metre phase aimed squarely at delivering a maiden resource estimate.
An additional 8500 metres have also been pencilled in to give two standout satellite targets a proper shake.
The first, aptly dubbed Gold Finger, sits within an east-west-trending siliceous zone with outcropping quartz veins in a pyritic, chlorite-altered schist. Limited drilling to date has turned up impressive near-surface hits, including 18m grading 3.5g/t gold and 8m running at 6.54g/t gold.
The second target, Petersens, lies 3km north of Leo Grande on a parallel shear that has proven equally persuasive, with shallow strikes of 9m grading 3.5g/t gold and a broader 35m running at 1.75g/t gold.
Despite the early success of the 1990’s, both targets remain virtually untouched below the oxide zone.
Backed by a buoyant gold price and a prime patch of underexplored tenure, Moonlight Resources has entered the ASX fray with momentum and a full drill docket. With exploration gathering pace, investors will be keen to see what else the curiously named junior explorer advances under the glow of moonlight.
Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact: matt.birney@businessnews.com.au
By Helen Barling
