Strickland Metals has identified a new structure at its Millrose gold project near Wiluna highlighting the possibility of a secondary high-grade deposit after receiving final assays from its 2022 drill campaign.
The company says the recently identified Millrose West structure located about 200m west of the main Millrose deposit is open to the north and south and is traceable using geophysics data over around 5km.
Assay highlights from Millrose West show a 19m intercept going 2.9 grams per tonne gold from 76m including 5m at a significant grade of 8.7 g/t gold from 89m. A second hole recorded 13m grading 2.1 g/t gold from 83m.
Strickland says the Millrose West structure appears to be hosted within an entirely distinct stratigraphic package. Historic exploration in the area has previously been limited to air-core drilling that was deemed too shallow to intersect the mineralisation. The new discovery remains untested along strike and the company believes the mineralisation intersected is oxide and transition-hosted, with strong potential for further fresh primary mineralisation at depth.
Strickland Metals Chief Executive Officer, Andrew Bray said: “Overall, this new western shear structure represents a highly compelling exploration target. Most significantly, it demonstrates the potential for a secondary ‘look-a-like’ Millrose analogue to the west.”
The explorer says it is already planning its 2023 drill campaign and is likely to make Millrose West a priority.
In addition to the new discovery at Millrose West, Strickland has continued to return positive results from its drill campaign across the greater Millrose project. Significant assays from Millrose Central recorded 32m going 1.8 g/t gold from 66m including 14m at 3 g/t gold from 79m. The explorer also received a wider 40m hit grading 1.1 g/t gold from 87m including 6m at 3.8 g/t gold from 94m.
Peak assays from drilling at Millrose North highlighted a 5m intercept going 8 g/t gold from 101m, 6m reading 6.4 g/t gold from 56m in addition to 6.4m at 3.1 g/t gold from 64.6m.
Strickland’s recently discovered Wanamaker deposit continues to deliver solid numbers including 6.7m at 4.6 g/t gold from 130.3m, 4m grading 2.9 g/t gold from 88m and a wider 21m hit going 2.2 g/t gold from 95m.
The company says data from the latest assay results will be used to define an updated mineral resource estimate for the Millrose project that is expected to be released this year.
The Millrose project forms part of the company’s broader Yandal gold project and is within the northern reaches of the region’s Archean-age Yandal greenstone belt.
Strickland picked up the operation in 2021 with an indicated and inferred mineral resource estimate of six million tonnes grading an average 1.8 g/t for 346,000 ounces of contained gold. The site is about 30km east of Northern Star Resources’ 10-million-ounce-plus Jundee gold operation.
With the addition of the new discovery at Millrose West, Strickland could be well on its way to a significant resource upgrade across the explorer’s flagship operation in 2023.
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By Matt Birney
