Augustus Minerals has confirmed and upgraded a series of wide gold intersections from its 1242-square-kilometre Music Well project near Leonora in Western Australia, with one-metre resample assays delivering higher grade hits, including a standout one-metre section grading a solid 7.9 grams per tonne (g/t) gold.
The new results are from the one-metre re-splits of the company’s maiden reverse circulation (RC) drilling program at the Clifton East prospect in March, which initially returned a raft of encouraging hits from broader four-metre composite samples.
The latest, more detailed assays have successfully defined higher-grade zones within the wider mineralised envelopes. The best result was an 11-metre intercept grading 2.41g/t gold from just 32m downhole, which included the impressive 7.9g/t gold hit.
Other significant results included a 34m-wide zone going 0.83g/t gold from 38m, and another 11-metre section assaying 0.92g/t gold from 69m.
The company says the strong correlation between the initial composite samples and the more detailed one-metre assays is encouraging, as it indicates a uniform, non-nuggety style of gold distribution. Management believes this characteristic makes grade estimation less of an issue for potential future resource calculations.
Augustus Minerals general manager exploration Andrew Ford said: “The one metre sample assays have more clearly defined the wide zones of mineralisation – displaying higher grade intervals within similar grading broader mineralised zones. This reflects fairly uniform, non-nuggety gold, that makes estimation of grade less of an issue going forward."
Augustus' encouraging drill results have already caught the eye of one heavy hitter. In a significant vote of confidence, a subsidiary of heavyweight gold producer Gold Fields recently emerged with a 5.33 per cent substantial holding in Augustus after tipping A$550,000 into a placement.
The move is seen as a strategic, low-cost “toe-in-the-water” play by the major, securing it a foothold in Augustus’ vast ground holding in the heart of WA’s prolific Leonora-Laverton gold belt.
Anchoring a prolific geological system with a gold endowment of more than 28 million ounces, this sector of the Eastern Goldfields represents genuine elephant country. The company's project area is tightly enveloped by a network of world-class deposits.
These include Vault Mineral’s operating Darlot mine 12km north and Northern Star’s 4.3-million-ounce Thunderbox deposit 20km west. Other notable nearby mines include Genesis Minerals’ flagship 9.6-million-ounce Leonora camp.
While Augustus is firmly focused on its WA gold hunt, it also holds the Ti-Tree project in WA's Gascoyne region, which is considered prospective for copper, gold, lithium, uranium and rare earths.
The company also has a “second in line” application for the massive Mt Kare gold project in Papua New Guinea, which has previously thrown up some eye-watering drill hits, including 111m at 9.8g/t gold.
Back at Music Well, the drill rods are already turning on a follow-up 11-hole, 1650m RC program designed to build on the early success at Clifton East. Assays from that campaign have been dispatched to the lab, with results expected in five weeks.
With a pipeline of local news on the way, a shot at a giant New Guinea project and a gold major now watching from the register, Augustus appears to be rounding the corner at Music Well in one of WA’s most productive postcodes.
The market will likely be laser-focused on the next batch of assays to see if the company's early success could be the start of something bigger.
Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting?
Contact: matt.birney@businessnews.com.au
By Murray Ward
