Thunderbird Resources is approaching a final verdict on its Slasher Flats gold acquisition in Central NSW, with the Springfield gold deposit emerging as a leading contender for drilling.
The company says the existing known high-grade hits are likely just a slice of a much bigger system that is still begging for the drill bit at Springfield. With historically limited shallow drilling having already delivered thick, near-surface gold, Thunderbird says its prospects are likely to continue to considerable depths.
Highlights from historical drilling include a 27m hit running 3.65 grams per tonne (g/t) gold from surface and a broader 86m hit grading 1.04g/t from 104m.
The last hole was punched in way back in 1999 when gold was just $450 an ounce.
A recent site visit and core review by the company identified pervasive alteration and visual mineralisation in drilling at Springfield that it says strongly points at a large-scale intrusion-related gold system (IRGS).
The Springfield gold deposit is within the broader Slashers Flat project near Gulgong in NSW.
The deposit sits inside a 7km north-south structural corridor pinned between the Mt Galambine and Magpie Hill faults, with no modern soil geochem ever being run across the project.
A previous 186 drillholes averaging just 35m in depth were hammered into the Springfield and Springfield North deposits, with the deepest hole drilled to a depth of 249m.
The company says it has a contractor locked in for the project-wide soil program set to kick off in two weeks. And says that post acquisition, maiden drilling could launch as soon as January next year.
Thunderbird says its project’s land access is easy thanks to open paddocks across the deposit and its Springfield North prospect to the north.
In addition to Slashers Flat, three of the other projects are based in the Lachlan Orogen, a geological terrane hosting several large, high-grade deposits such as the monster Cadia, North Parkes’ 2.6 million ounce gold and 2.3 million tonne copper operation and the 9 million-ounce Cowal gold deposit.
Due diligence is now in the final stretch ahead of a shareholder vote on the acquisition next month.
Once a new land access deal is inked, the NSW intrusion-hosted gold belt can be properly tested, with Thunderbird implying its next round of numbers could stretch the Springfield footprint a long way past the old drill fence.
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By Andrew Todd
