Southern Gold has continued its recent run of exploration success in South Korea, turning out some impressive high grade gold and silver assays from underground channel sampling of the Shin adit, at the Deokon project in the southwest of the country.
Significant intercepts included 0.35 metres grading 12.6g/t gold and 509g/t silver, 0.25m @ 12.3g/t gold and 1,290g/t silver and 0.4m @ 9.26g/t gold and 1,165g/t silver.
The results confirm historical results from the original small-scale gold-silver mining operation at Deokon and point to a number of walk-up drill targets for the company that will be tested very soon.
The sampling was taken across 22 channel sample lines from two historical underground drives returning a total of 79 assays.
Southern Gold M.D. Simon Mitchell said: “Deokon has the potential to advance quickly with Southern Gold having obtained site access, the commencement of field work and turning around results, all within 6 weeks.”
“While much more work remains to be done, planning has commenced on drilling proposals with the focus on using suitable drilling equipment capable of drilling within the historical underground workings.”
“The Shin adit at Deokon is a very small part of a much larger mineralised system but these high-grade results have clearly replicated the tenor of historical results which bodes well for confirming additional high grade gold and silver across the project area.”
The Shin adit mine was most recently worked in 2010, although production records go back to about 1958.
Southern Gold said that precious metals mineralisation has not been tested to any depth at the old mine and it has also been inadequately tested along strike, opening up obvious extensional diamond drilling targets.
The high-grade mineralisation is interpreted by the company to plunge steeply at the mine and initial scout drilling holes will need to be completed to clarify the mapped geology.
The mineralisation is epithermal in nature, with hydraulic quartz-sulphide rich veins to brecciated ores located within strongly altered volcanic host rock sequences.
Southern Gold has been quick off the mark at Deokon, with the tenements only being granted back in August this year.
The new acquisition looks quite interesting for the company with historical records from the Main Mine prospect, 1km northwest of the Shin adit recording just under 38,000 ounces of gold and 2.36 million ounces of silver production in the 22 year period from 1958 onwards.
Elsewhere in Korea, Southern Gold recently reported that its JV partner for the Gubong and Kochang projects, London-based Bluebird Merchant Ventures, is making significant progress in bringing those historical mine operations back into production.
Bluebird is set to increase its pre-development activities at the Gubong gold mine over the next few months, including all necessary approvals and the granting of a “permit to develop” the underground operation.
Significant headway has also been reported at the Kochang JV, with Bluebird due to report on the feasibility of re-starting that underground mine later this month.
By Matt Birney
