ASX-listed aspiring gold developer, Horizon Minerals has reeled off a swag of high-grade gold drill hits from another of its core satellite gold deposits that form part of its proposed flagship Boorara gold production hub, 10 kilometres east of Kalgoorlie.
Infill and extensional drilling carried out at the Perth-based company’s Jacques Find gold deposit at the Teal gold camp, 10km north-west of Kalgoorlie, returned some bonanza shallow high-grade assay results headlined by a 19.2-metre intersection going 12.53 grams per tonne gold from 42m and 8m grading 12.10 g/t from 60m. Another intersection of 4m came in at 9.28 g/t gold from 52m.
The Jacques Find drilling program, which has so far seen 45 RC and three diamond holes completed for an aggregate coverage of 4,483 metres to a maximum depth of 163m, is designed to test for extensions to the deposit’s supergene zone and improve its JORC resource classification.
Other stand-out intercepts were 8m grading 6.28 g/t gold from 72m, and 6m at 6.06 g/t from 54m including 1m at 25.6 g/t from 59m.
A longer 24m intersection went 3.04 g/t from 80m that included a high-grade 4m core going 6.47 g/t from 84m. A further 12m intersection graded 4.70 g/t from 60m.
According to Horizon, the latest assays point to excellent width and grade continuity within the Jacques Find supergene mineralisation, with new mineralisation encountered to the south now. The company says mineralisation remains open to the north and south within the supergene enrichment zone.
The Jacques Find gold deposit comprises a supergene blanket above shears and quartz within structurally controlled felsic schists, tuffs, sediments and porphyry rocks at depth.
Gold mineralisation occurs in a flat lying oxide supergene deposit located between 35 metres and 75m vertical depth and in primary mineralisation within a sub vertical shear zone. The mineralisation trends north-north-west over a strike length that has been increased to approximately 800m.
Jacques Find’s indicated and inferred resource estimate currently stands at 1.91 million tonnes of ore at an average grade of 2.14 g/t for 131,970 ounces of contained gold.
The drilling results will be incorporated into an updated mineral resource estimate for Jacques Find that is due to be delivered in the June quarter this year. Open-cut mine optimisation and design studies will then be undertaken culminating in maiden ore reserve numbers being generated and plugged into the Boorara consolidated feasibility study.
Further extensional drilling is planned at Jacques Find later in 2021 as part of what the company calls its organic growth plan.
Horizon Minerals Managing Director, Jon Price said: “These results continue to demonstrate the growth potential of the entire Teal gold camp that sits only 10km from Kalgoorlie and 25km on existing roads to Boorara. We look forward to releasing the updated resource and maiden reserve in coming months and building the (Jacques Find) project into the long-term production plan.”
The Teal camp consists of the Teal, Jacques Find and Peyes Farm deposits and is one of four core satellite gold project areas being looked at in Horizon’s feasibility study on the Boorara production hub to complement the base-load 500,000-ounce Boorara gold resource.
Horizon’s feasibility study, also expected to be released in the June quarter, is evaluating an initial five-year mine plan and the development of a new stand-alone gold processing plant at the Boorara mine site.
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By Matt Birney
