Barton Gold has discovered a 650 metre long shallow gold zone at its Tunkillia project in South Australia just three kilometres northeast of its 223 deposit that hosts a formidable 965,000 ounce gold resource. The newly coined “Area 191” prospect gave up a bundle of shallow hits in recent drilling including 3m going 3.45 grams per tonne gold from 55m and 1m grading 69.6 g/t gold from 68m.
Other significant intersections encountered at Area 191 include 8m grading 1.82 g/t gold from 71m, 3m going 5.11 g/t gold from 78m and 5m grading 7.66 g/t gold from 110m.
Gold mineralisation at the Area 191 prospect occurs in a similar shallow geological setting to the 223 gold deposit only 3km away and remains open at depth and along strike according to the company.
The drilling conducted at Area 191 consisted of eight holes for 1,128m. It was the first drilling to target the area in approximately 15 years, with plenty of prospective land awaiting drill testing in the immediate vicinity.
Shallow mineralisation at Area 191 spans 250m to 300m in width along a north-northwest strike orientation. The phase 1 Tunkillia drill program aimed to drill test gaps in historical drilling and subsequently confirmed a continuous body of flat-lying gold mineralisation sitting at approximately 50m to 60m vertical depth.
Similar to the 223 gold deposit, Area 191 houses low to medium grade broad intersections accompanied by intermittent high grade hits. The company said the style of mineralisation might indicate locally enriched primary structures with secondary or disseminated mineralisation.
Nearby, results from 20 drill holes approximately 500m northwest of the 223 deposit recently identified the 223 North gold zone. Between the Area 191 and 223 North discoveries, Tunkillia’s total gold mineralised strike length has now extended by almost 60 per cent to approximately 4km worth of shallow, continuous gold mineralisation.
Historical drilling has much wider drill spacing at Area 191 than in the 223 deposit with minimal geological understanding. Drillhole orientations of recent drilling were aimed at improving understanding of the shape and distribution of mineralisation.
Assay results from 742m worth of drilling at key structural targets central to the 223 deposit are expected shortly.
Barton Gold’s Managing Director, Alexander Scanlon said: “All zones remain open to strike and depth extensions and we remain focused on our objective of rapidly expanding the overall project footprint and JORC Mineral Resources base through further drilling.”
“Barton has now discovered a total ~1.8km of new gold mineralisation with its initial post-IPO drilling programs, bringing the total mineralised strike in its Southern Hub to ~5km. We believe we are just getting a glimpse of the potential scale of these projects, and we are already planning our next work programs.”
With the company striking gold in almost all directions from its flagship 223 deposit, the Tunkillia project area is shaping up to be a much bigger beast than originally anticipated and is looking like it will become a solid rival for Barton’s flagship Tarcoola project.
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