Venus Metals could be knocking on the door of the next high-grade gold discovery at Youanmi in WA. The company’s drilling campaign over the Taylor's Reef prospect has returned outstanding high-grade gold intercepts, including 3m at 19.58 g/t gold also hosting 1m at an impressive 55.81 g/t gold from only 21m downhole.
This latest set of results continues to highlight the remarkable potential of the Youanmi greenstone belt which in recent years has witnessed a resurgence in exploration activity led by Venus and its joint venture partner, Rox Resources.
A string of recent discoveries at Youanmi has included the high-grade Penny West Deeps and the Grace gold deposits, firmly stamping the terrane as one of Australia’s most fertile addresses for high-grade gold discoveries.
The Penny West Deeps discovery proved a company maker for one-time gold-minnow Spectrum Metals with the company quickly building a resource under the old open pit which, by the end of 2019, weighed in at 799,000 tonnes at a cracking 13.8 g/t gold. The company was subsequently taken over in February 2020 by Ramelius Resources in a mostly script transaction, estimated to have been worth a cool $228 million.
Venus’ Taylor's Reef prospect is located a mere 6km north of the Penny West deposit, which has no doubt fuelled building expectations.
Additional results from Venus’ recent program of aircore and reverse circulation drilling at Taylor's Reef include 3m at 14.3 g/t gold with 1m at 19.86 g/t gold from 73m and 2m at 6.67 g/t gold with 1m at 12.27 g/t gold from 57m downhole.
The Taylor's Reef prospect forms part of the Curran’s Find project at Youanmi. Currans Find has historically produced high-grade gold from artisanal workings associated with east-northeast trending structure which crosscuts a stratigraphic package of intermediate to ultramafic rocks.
Gold mineralisation at Curran’s is hosted by an array of auriferous quartz veins within this cross-cutting structure - a near replica to the geological environment of the lucrative Penny West deposit to the south
Venus’ exploration work to date has outlined the Currans Find structure along more than 1,500m of strike, extending from the Red, Blue and White prospect in the south, through to the Currans North prospect. The target is highlighted by a wealth of old workings and a plethora of high-grade drill results with intercepts grading up to an exceptional 78.03 g/t gold.
The Taylor's Reef prospect also forms part of the Curran’s Well joint venture, or ‘JV’ with 90 per cent of the tenure being owned in equal parts by the Youanmi JV between Venus Metals and Rox Resources -the balance of 10 per cent is owned by the vendor, Mr Taylor.
Venus’ Youanmi project is located 480km north of Perth in the Murchison mineral field of Western Australia. The Youanmi tenure covers more than 350 square kilometres and is the subject of various joint venture agreements with partner Rox Resources with Rox responsible for managing the operations in the Youanmi region.
The Youanmi region has produced over 667,000 ounces of gold since it was first discovered in the area back in 1901. Exploration across the region has, in more recent times, undergone a renaissance with the discovery of the Penny West Deeps deposit in 2019 and Rox unearthing the Grace gold discovery, literally beneath the headframe, next to the Youanmi mill late last year.
As the Youanmi gold terrane continues to push out potentially company making gold discoveries, Venus’ could be on to something a special across its prospects at Currans Find, including Taylor’s Reef.
Planned deep RC drilling for later in the year and a continuing run of high-grade hits at Taylor’s Reef will doubtless attract the attention of numerous gold-bugs as the company begins to test the true size of this new high-grade gold discovery in WA.
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