Aurumin kickstarts drill program in WA gold hunt

Aurumin has kick-started its reverse-circulation drill campaign as it hunts for gold at its Central Sandstone project in WA, part of its Sandstone operations. The program will consist of 40 drill-holes and test up to nine new open-pit targets.

The total existing resource from its three Sandstone projects is tantalisingly close to the magical one-million-ounce mark and the company will be looking for some solid results to help it burst through that all-important level.

The company’s planned drilling will follow up on structural and geochemical targets derived from previous exploration programs. It will target multiple styles and models of mineralisation, including banded iron-hosted and porphyry-intrusive vein style systems.

Importantly, all targets are on coveted mining leases with another positive being they all sit within 3km of the processing plant operations.

Aurumin managing director Brad Valiukas said: “We are investing into our flagship 946koz Sandstone Gold Operations and this work aligns directly with our focus on the Central Sandstone Project and generating the critical mass required for future production, starting with open pits.”

The company’s 100 per cent owned Sandstone gold operations are 520km north-east of Perth. The full mineral resource from the three gold projects includes about 946,000 gold ounces and consists of  Central Sandstone’s existing  resource of 881,000 ounces and the Johnson Range project resource of 64,700 gold ounces at 2.51 grams per tonne.

The Central Sandstone project’s two main deposits are Two Mile Hill and Shillington.

Two Mile Hill has an open-pit resource of 2.116 million tonnes at 1.3g/t for 89,900 ounces of gold. The underground resource is 10.829 million tonnes going 1.6g/t for 573,900 ounces.

Nearby, Shillington’s resource is 1.913 million tonnes at 1.5 g/t for 90,600 ounces. Management believes there is about 500m of strike of prospective lithology at Shillington’s that was not adequately tested by previous RAB drilling and it will target areas for drilling where structural controls are interpreted to penetrate the banded-iron formation unit.

The Two Mile West prospect, about 500m west of the Two Mile deposit, is a 600m long gold anomaly generated by auger geochemistry sampling conducted in 2022.

The broad gold in soil anomaly tracks east–west across the northern slopes of two banded-iron formation ridges. The BIF ridges are believed to be an exposure of the same lithological units, but offset by structural movement, that host the Shillington deposit and intersect and form part of the Two Mile Hill deposit.

An initial programme of 6 holes is planned to target multiple banded-iron formation horizons.

With the current program planning to test nine highly prospective targets, the results just might give Aurumin the boost its looking for to join the million-ounce gold club.

Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact: matt.birney@businessnews.com.au