A new gold discovery near the Western Queen deposit at the Dalgaranga gold mine in Western Australia has the potential to significantly extend the operating life of one of Australia’s most successful medium-sized gold mines.
Recent drilling by Perth-based Western Reefs Ltd, which has a 49.9 per cent interest in the project, has indicated a significant gold strike at Western Queen South, a prospect located just 700 metres south of the Western Queen open cut mine.
Western Reefs managing director Rob Nichevich said Western Queen South occurred on what appeared to be a southerly extension of the structure hosting the Western Queen deposit.
“The steep westerly dipping zone is interpreted to have a core of higher grade gold mineralisation that plunges moderately to the south,” Mr Nichevich said.
“These results have significantly enhanced the potential for further southerly plunging shoots to be located along strike to the south along the Western Queen shear.
“This confirms the enormous prospectivity of this area and further vindicates the decision to acquire the Western Queen Project.”
Best results include 42 metres grading at 6.55 grams/tonne gold from 30m, 23m at 2.56g/t from 20m and 9m at 16.38g/t from 45m.
Follow-up drilling will be pursued as a matter of priority and a preliminary resource calculation will be finalised by the end of December.
