West Australian-based Kairos Minerals has backed up recent stellar assay results from its Mt York gold project in the Pilbara with a technical review that has emboldened the diversified explorer to plan a 15,000-20,000m drilling program for this quarter to chase a major resource upgrade.
The company’s review found mineralisation is continuous along a 3.4km trend, with substantial scope to grow Mt York’s 873,500oz resource at depth.
Management describes its review results as “extremely compelling”, saying they paint a picture of an 873,000oz resource open in all directions only constrained by a lack of drilling, particularly below 150-200m.
Kairos Managing Director, Dr Peter Turner said: “The potential to grow this resource substantially is overwhelmingly clear. We will only begin to understand the true size of the Mt York resource once the next round of staged exploration drilling is completed.”
Mt York is about 100km south of Port Hedland, adjacent to lithium-tantalum projects owned by Pilbara Minerals and about 30km to the south-east of De Grey Mining’s world-class gold project.
Of particular interest is The Gap prospect, west of the historical Breccia Hill pit.
Previous drilling results at The Gap include a 49m strike going 1.75 grams per tonne from 135m, including 19m at 3.29g/t from 153m.
The technical review has added even more gloss to the figures.
Kairos says the review involved putting Mt York’s drilling database through the latest in 3D geological modelling software. The results highlighted substantial scope to grow the resource at depth and found there was no geological limitations on the lodes. The review concluded the higher-grade zone is likely to be plunging shallowly to the east and fold-controlled.
As more diamond drilling is conducted in the near future, structural assessment of the deposit will help Kairos determine the structural controls of the mineralisation to refine its targeting strategy – particularly chasing high-grade lenses at depth.
The size of the newly announced drilling program is about double that previously planned, reflecting perhaps the burgeoning ambitions of the company and its newly minted chairman and managing director.
In May, Kairos brought in veteran geologist Klaus Eckhof as non-executive chairman along with Dr Turner, who has 25 years’ experience in resources across Asia, Africa and the Middle East in addition to WA.
In the Pilbara, Kairos holds more than 2000 square kilometres of tenure that is highly prospective for gold and copper discoveries.
Kairos bought the Mt York project — mined by Lynas Gold in the 1990s — in 2016 and though it is the company’s flagship, it is not its only gold interest. Kairos also has gold deposits at Iron Stirrup and Old Faithful to the north.
In total, Kairos gold project’s total JORC-compliant resource stands at 20.93Mt at 1.3g/t for 873,500oz, including an indicated resource of 8.56Mt at 1.3g/t for 366,000oz and an inferred resource of 12.36Mt at 1.28g/t for 507,000oz.
In other developments, Kairos’ wholly owned Lalla Rookh project north-east of Mt York has uncovered extensive lithium-caesium-tantalum targets prospective for lithium mineralisation.
At its fully owned Roe Hills project, in the Eastern Goldfields, soil sampling targeted gold and base metals, discovering lithium and pathfinder elements.
Though there is no recorded lithium exploration in the Roe Hills project area, it is located near Kairos’ Black Cat prospect, about 10km south of the Manna lithium project, owned by Global Lithium Resources and Breaker Resources.
However, it is Mt York that will keep Kairos Minerals busy in the near term. The company’s next steps include completing detailed structural mapping, the use of its new software program for other deposits it owns and establishing a camp at Mt York ahead of the major drilling campaign.
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By Matt Birney
