ASX-listed gold developer Bellevue Gold has stepped out beyond the limits of its high-grade, 1.53 million ounce Bellevue gold deposit to unearth three extensive, regional gold trends adjacent to the historical mine area near Leinster in WA.
The company identified the highly prospective geological structural corridors at the Government Well, Bellevue North West and Bellevue West prospects via a combination of historical data reviews and recent fieldwork on-site.
At Government Well, centred about 4.5km north northwest of the main mine area, Bellevue delineated a 4km long gold trend defined by geological mapping, rock chip sampling and historical drilling results.
The company generated three surface rock chip samples above an ounce to the tonne at the prospect and located shallow drilling intersections of 2m @ 22.6g/t gold from 8m down-hole and 2m @ 19.7g/t gold from 32m down-hole in separate drill holes.
Government Well has had limited drilling in the past, with the recent evaluation throwing up several new walk-up drill targets for Bellevue.
At the Bellevue North West prospect, 1.6km along strike from the mine workings, the company located multiple high-grade “Bellevue Style” quartz vein sets and associated alteration, that returned surface assays up to 102g/t gold.
According to company management, the new results have the potential to significantly extend the overall prospectivity of the Bellevue gold system as it constitutes an immediate drill target for a possible extension to the Tribune Lode mineralisation.
The third new target at Bellevue West lies about 700m directly west of the Tribune Lode shear zone and gold mineralisation.
This region contains a 2km strike length of strongly anomalous gold recorded from surface geochemical sampling and shallow historical drilling at depths close to 20 metres down-hole.
The proximity of this prospect to the mine area, the coincident anomalous surface and subsurface gold results and its lack of drilling, mark this area high on Bellevue’s scorecard for follow up exploratory drilling.
Initial drill testing of the three, high priority regional prospects at the Bellevue gold project will commence once all regulatory approvals are complete.
Managing Director Steve Parsons said: “In tandem with the company’s resource step-out & extension drilling that is ongoing at the high-grade Bellevue gold deposit, the company has also commenced a significant near-mine exploration targeting programme over the past few months that has focussed on developing multiple, high-grade gold targets along strike of the high-grade gold discovery at Bellevue.”
“Bellevue Gold’s land package includes eighteen kilometres of strike potential of the Bellevue gold trend … outside the immediate Bellevue mine that remains highly prospective for repeats and satellite orebodies.”
“… the mineralisation styles and high-grade nature of the identified near mine targets exhibit strong similarities to those observed at the … Bellevue gold deposit.”
“With four diamond core drill rigs focussed on delivering an update to the resource estimate in the 2nd quarter of this year the recently identified (regional) targets will be subjected to further exploration through a combination of surface and geophysical exploration ahead of initial drill testing in the very near term.”
By Matt Birney
