BMG Resources will accelerate its exploration efforts at the company’s Bullabulling and Invincible gold projects in Western Australia, motivated by high gold prices and recent nearby acquisitions by two big-name investors.
Both projects contain favourable gold mineralisation in big structures, which they share with other significant projects being advanced by two of WA’s most successful mining investors – Mark Creasy and Tim Goyder.
BMG’s Bullabulling project sits on the western margins of the Bullabulling gold mine and has a 60 million tonne resource at an average grade of 1.2 grams per tonne (g/t) gold for 2.3 million ounces of the metal.
The company’s exploration energy has also been driven by ASX-listed and Goyder-led Minerals 260 Limited’s acquisition of the next-door Bullabulling gold mine for $156.5 million in cash and $10m in Minerals 260 shares.
Shallow scout drilling in BMG’s own Bullabulling ground has jagged extensive near-surface high-grade gold hits, including 2 metres going 18.1g/t gold and 4m assaying 10.2g/t gold.
The company says the impressive hits highlight the area’s strong potential for significant gold mineralisation. It has planned a 3000m drill program for the project in the second quarter of the year to follow up its near-surface gold discoveries.
BMG’s Bullabulling project consists of three separate blocks of tenure, at Bullabulling West next to the mine, Bullabulling North and Bullabulling East.
The north-south oriented gold trend that hosts the Bullabulling gold mine and multiple other gold occurrences is interpreted to extend into BMG’s Bullabulling North area.
The Bullabulling West and East blocks of ground are interpreted to host greenstones that could potentially host gold mineralisation.
Previous reconnaissance drilling by BMG at Bullabulling North defined several near-surface intercepts of high-grade gold that it believes warrant further evaluation. It has singled out four priority target areas for priority follow-up in the imminent 3000m drill program.
The scout drilling results echoed those from historic holes, including 4m at 2.37g/t gold from 53m, 2m assaying 18.1g/t gold from 34m, 1m at 10.6g/t gold from 58m and 4m running 10.12g/t gold from 32m.
BMG proposes to undertake extensive soil sampling across all of its project tenures to define additional targets for follow-up in the upcoming program or in a future campaign.
BMG Resources non-executive chairman John Prineas said: “The record gold prices are shining a bright light on our three 100% owned gold projects in Western Australia. As we await assays for the recent drilling at our Abercromby gold project, we are excited to announce new exploration programs at the Bullabulling and Invincible gold projects. Both these projects now share borders with projects being advanced by two of Western Australia’s most successful mining investors – Mark Creasy and Tim Goyder – following recent M&A deals.”
In a second go at leveraging what might be termed its “accidental nearology” strategy, BMG’s Invincible project ground in WA’s Central Pilbara region is sandwiched between a trio of projects held by the Creasy Group that sit north and south of Invincible, along the strike of the prospective Warrawoona Shear.
Notably, BMG’s Invincible ground encloses 12 kilometres of the major regional-scale shear, which is known to be mineralised.
BMG’s soil geochemistry over Invincible has picked up on a gold trend that runs for more than 5km along the Warrawoona Shear, which the company considers a compelling target for follow-up drilling.
Its prospectivity is further reinforced by a plethora of mostly shallow old artisanal mine workings and diggings, which include the historic Invincible gold show from which almost 22kg of gold was won at an eye-watering average grade of 1600.85g/t gold.
Most of the gold is shallow and high-grade and there has been little deep drilling, even below the old Invincible show, while modern prospecting around the Invincible tenure in recent years continues to deliver shallow and surface gold nuggets.
The primary gold mineralisation seen at Invincible is interpreted to be hosted by quartz reefs and veins in extensive shear zones, similar to that observed at the nearby Calidus gold project.
BMG is planning to drill a pipeline of compelling targets in its Invincible ground. It is working to finalise heritage matters, has signed a heritage agreement with the Nyamal Aboriginal Corporation and is getting set for a heritage survey that will let it kick off drilling.
BMG is also sitting on an 11.12-million-tonne resource at its Capital gold deposit, which is part of its Abercrombie gold project that comprises two mining leases. The resource has a grade of 1.45g/t gold for 518,000 ounces of gold.
Gold mineralisation extends across a 1.2km strike, is open along strike and at depth and features notable intersections, including 6m at 9.77g/t gold from 12m, 57.5m assaying 5.73g/t gold from 80m and 30m running 10.01g/t gold from 164m.
Metallurgical testwork confirms Abercromby gold is free milling and amenable to traditional carbon-in-leach processing, with high gold recoveries reported of 93 per cent to 95 per cent.
Only a small part of the 6km-long prospective stratigraphy at Abercromby has been effectively tested by drilling and BMG sees significant potential to increase the resource with further drill testing.
The company launched a diamond drilling program in December last year to test for extensions of the known mineralisation and to convert the inferred resources to the indicated category.
BMG expects to receive the analytical results for the drilling program within the next two weeks and is already planning to dive back in with a second drilling program when the new data has been assimilated and interpreted.
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By Doug Bright
