ASX-listed junior gold explorer Torian Resources has picked up the encouraging scent of arsenic in field work at its Mt Stirling gold project north-west of Leonora, with portable XRF soil sampling pointing to two new high-priority gold targets. The Perth-based company says arsenic surface anomalies have previously correlated with gold in the region and recently led to the discovery of the Viserion lode at Mt Stirling.
Management hopes to kick off a reverse circulation drilling program designed to probe the newly identified Tyrannus and Viserion prospects shortly.
Torian recently tabled an updated resource estimate for Mt Stirling of 2.05 million tonnes at an average grade of 1.54 grams per tonne gold for 101,722 ounces of contained gold.
The company has previously indicated the Mt Stirling shear-hosted gold system remains open in all directions and the inferred and indicated resource covers roughly 750m out of an interpreted strike length so far of 1.16km.
It aims to punch out a whopping total of 50,000m of brownfields and regional auger, RC and diamond drilling across the Mt Stirling project’s Stirling and Diorite blocks this year.
Some of the recent stand-out drill intersections not included in the interim mineral resource estimate were 2m grading an average 8.02 g/t gold from 1m including 1m at 15.19 g/t from 1m, 1m at 4.92 g/t from 88m, 1m at 3.93 g/t from 108m and 1m at 3.51 g/t from 6m.
Torian says the structural setting of the new arsenic portable XRF surface soil anomaly dubbed Tyrannus is significant due to it having been detected on an inflection and splay junction of the Wonambi Shear termination onto the Ursus Fault corridor and about 400m east of Mt Stirling gold mineralisation.
Tyrannus lies along strike of ASX-listed Red 5’s Cerebus-Eclipse and Centauri deposits that also straddle the north-north-west-trending Ursus Fault zone.
Cerebus-Eclipse hosts an indicated and inferred resource of 2.8Mt going at 1.2 g/t gold for 112,000oz of contained gold and Centauri an indicated and inferred resource of 1.7Mt at 1.5 g/t for 81,300oz of contained gold.
The nearby second new arsenic anomaly uncovered by Torian sits immediately west of Viserion lode mineralisation on the Viserion Shear.
Although situated in close proximity to the recently drilled Viserion lode, the new Viserion prospect has not been tested and may represent an auriferous sub-parallel structure, according to the company.
Proposed infill portable XRF surveys as well as structural and geological mapping will help vector in on potentially mineralised targets for drill testing, the company says.
Interestingly, an infill portable XRF survey at Torian’s Hydra prospect encountered an arsenic XRF surface soil anomaly on another inflection point of the Viserion Shear and about 1km north-west and along strike of the Mt Stirling resource on the Viserion Shear.
Hydra is also perched about 500m north-west of the new Viserion prospect, to which Torian suggests Hydra may be linked.
The company revealed all the arsenic anomalies using a portable XRF machine to analyse soil samples from its surface geochemical surveys over prospective structural and conceptual targets.
Torian Resources Executive Director Peretz Schapiro said: “In addition to working on proving up further ounces at the open Mt Stirling resource, we are continuing to uncover further high-priority targets of which we are excited to further explore. We are eager to recommence RC drilling at the project.”
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By Matt Birney
