New Novo drilling pumps up Pilbara gold grades
First-pass reverse-circulation (RC) drilling by Novo Resources at its Nunyerry North deposit in Western Australia’s Pilbara region – near De Grey Mining’s 11.5-million-ounce Hemi gold play – has turned-up drill hits of up to 7.42 grams per tonne gold.
The company says results from the program that comprised 30 holes for 2424m included promising intersections of 11m at 1.98g/t gold and 4m at 4.15g/t, with a 2m slice going 7.42g/t. It has confirmed that follow-up testing plans are now already in place at the project that sits 150km south/south-west of Port Hedland.
Novo says it found “significant” amounts of coarse, nuggety gold at surface during the drilling campaign.
The Nunyerry North project is held in a 70:30 joint venture (JV) with the Creasy Group and sits within the structurally-complex Egina Gold Camp hosted by Mallina Basin rocks in the north and mafic and ultra-mafic rocks in the south. A series of east-west-aligned gold-fertile corridors extend north and north-east towards the renowned Hemi project.
Novo shares ownership of Egina with De Grey.
The company’s drill program defined several zones of mineralised quartz veining, with some including the “Main Number 1 Lode” that is essentially “blind”, with minimal surface expression. The company notes the lode is consistent between all sections.
Novo executive co-chairman and acting chief executive officer Michael Spreadborough said: “It is exciting to see a significant grade increase in the Nunyerry North results and especially close to surface. Plans are already in place for a follow-up program testing new shoots at depth and the eastern down-plunge extension, as well as a number of other targets within a 2km radius”.
Mr Spreadborough said the company was also awaiting drill results from De Grey’s recently-competed air-core (AC) drilling program at the Becher project. ,RC drilling is now also testing mineralisation at the Heckmair, Irvine and Lowe prospects, following up Novo’s work during the past two years.
The company says phase-one drilling at Nunyerry North only tested a small area of the overall prospect. Further planned work includes detailed geological and structural modelling, extending detailed mapping and rock-chip sampling and follow-up RC and diamond drilling to test extensions and additional gold-in-soil anomalies to the south and west.
At the Becher project, 75km to the north/north-east and 28km from De Grey’s Hemi gold deposit, the latter recently completed 192 infill AC holes for 5251m. The program forms part of a planned 39,000m AC campaign and assays are expected to drop in the next month.
Just yesterday, Novo revealed it had set its sights on its “highest-priority” targets as it prepares to launch a diamond drill campaign targeting high-grade gold at its Belltopper project within central Victoria’s historically prolific Bendigo Tectonic Zone.
But the initial gold drill intercepts at Nunyerry North have given the company something else worth chasing. It is obviously only early days, but it is in the right exploration address to ponder turning up a sizeable orogenic Archaean gold deposit.
Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact: matt.birney@businessnews.com.au