Seasoned explorer Novo Resources has hit a broad, high-grade zone of silver and antimony from surface in maiden drilling at its Wyloo project in the Pilbara, simultaneously identifying three large-scale iron oxide-copper-gold (IOCG) targets at its expanded Toolunga project.
The company’s first-pass reverse circulation drilling at the Wyloo polymetallic project, 40 kilometres east of Black Cat Syndicate’s Paulsens gold operation, has confirmed a significant mineralised system right from the get-go.
The headline intercept from the Wyloo SE prospect returned a solid nine metres grading 92 grams per tonne (g/t) silver and 1280 parts per million (ppm) antimony from surface. The hit included a higher-grade core of 1m at a stellar 460g/t silver and 1425ppm antimony from just 2m downhole.
The system is also showing a strong polymetallic flavour, with broad zones of zinc mineralisation intersected across multiple holes. One hole delivered a standout 3m at a hefty 3.6 per cent zinc within a broader 27-metre mineralised halo.
The company says the drilling has confirmed a genuine hydrothermal system, intersecting widespread sericite and chlorite alteration up to 20m thick, a classic calling card for a large, fluid-rich mineralising event.
Even as drilling wrapped up, surface work was extending the project’s potential. Geochem sampling at the newly-identified Vera prospect has defined a significant 600m by 260m antimony-arsenic soil anomaly that remains open.
Rock chips from the area returned peak values of 3.5 per cent antimony, 33.2g/t silver, 1.4 per cent zinc and 2.1 per cent lead.
Notably, the pipeline of targets at Wyloo doesn't seem to end there. Novo has sharpened its focus on the company’s adjoining Kavira prospect, where a consistent 2.5km by 800m stream-sediment antimony anomaly has been defined under extensive transported cover.
The company says it is planning a heritage survey for the second half of this year ahead of a priority drilling program to test the bedrock beneath the cover.
Whilst the action at Wyloo provides immediate encouragement, Novo has also been hunting for elephants at its Toolunga copper-gold project in the Onslow district. The company has dramatically expanded its land holding from 1520 to a commanding 2242 square kilometres.
The prize the company is chasing at Toolunga is a big one - IOCG deposits. These are behemoth, multi-commodity systems that can be genuine company-makers, with BHP’s 10.4-billion-tonne Olympic Dam in South Australia being the textbook example.
So far, Novo’s geos have reprocessed gravity and magnetic data over the expanded tenure at Toolunga and identified three high-priority, kilometre-scale targets named Lobster, Ironstone Bore and Mount Minnie. All three are defined by matching magnetic and gravity anomalies, the key geophysical signature for an IOCG hunter.
Novo Resources executive co-chairman and acting chief executive officer Mike Spreadborough said: “At Wyloo, we set out to test a series of surface anomalies and geological interpretations, and the maiden drilling has confirmed a genuine hydrothermal system – strong silver and antimony grades from surface at Wyloo SE.”
The Lobster prospect, an 8km by 4km complex, was previously targeted for IOCG’s by mining giant WMC Resources in the 1990’s. Shallow drilling hit trace copper, including 2m at 0.3 per cent copper, providing a classic breadcrumb trail for Novo to follow up at depth.
The breadth of Novo’s portfolio extends well beyond the Pilbara’s polymetallic and IOCG potential. In Victoria’s famed Bendigo goldfields, its Belltopper gold project is targeting high-grade, Fosterville-style mineralisation - a structurally controlled gold system closely associated with antimony-rich stibnite that has produced some of Australia’s richest underground gold ore. The company has already delivered a maiden inferred mineral resource at the Leven Star deposit and is planning further drilling.
Back in the Pilbara, Novo holds the Egina gold project, which sits immediately adjacent to De Grey Mining’s world-class 11-million-ounce Hemi gold discovery. After JV partner Northern Star Resources withdrew, Novo has reclaimed 100 per cent ownership and inherited a treasure trove of geological data to guide exploration in one of the hottest postcodes in the country.
Throw in a recently completed drilling at the company’s Cronus prospect near Karratha, held in JV with lithium heavyweight SQM, alongside plans to drill its nearby Teichman gold project once heritage is signed off and Novo suddenly looks to have a conveyor belt of exploration catalysts ready to roll.
With high-grade polymetallic hits in the bag at Wyloo and a trio of giant IOCG targets lined up at Toolunga, Novo’s project generation strategy appears to be firing on all cylinders.
As the company moves to expand the footprint at Wyloo and line up the drill rigs for its new hunt, there will likely be no shortage of news flow in the coming months.
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By Murray Ward
