Mineral explorer Aurumin has intersected an impressive 344m at 1.29 grams per tonne gold in its first diamond drill hole at the company’s 784,000-ounce Central Sandstone gold project, 130km west of Leinster in Western Australia. Highlights within the broad interval include 40.9m at 2 g/t, 21.8m at 2 g/t and 16.1m at 2.9 g/t.
As the company attempts to gather enough momentum to kick its mothballed plant back into production, its four-hole diamond program was designed to both extend and better define the project’s premier underground resource, Two Mile Hill.
Two Mile Hill is Sandstone’s biggest contributor of gold with its 500,000 ounces coming at a grade of 1.1 g/t.
With the first hole delivering such broad hits at grades above the primary resource, Aurumin will be eager to see how the remaining three holes of the program compare.
Aurumin Managing Director, Brad Valiukas said: “We continue to see the Two Mile Hill underground deposit as a key part of the project going forward, with the scale to potentially underpin future production.”
In addition to the diamond work, Aurumin has recently fired a mix of RC and auger drilling across the project in search of further mineralisation in known and untested areas.
The RC drilling focused on extending a higher-grade portion of the project’s Shillington deposit along a structural control with the assays currently awaiting laboratory analysis.
The shallow Shillington deposit combines with the surface component of Two Mile to form an open-pit resource of 157,000 ounces of gold. The two surficial inventories are above the underground component where an open pit would scoop up some easily accessible gold and provide access to the 500,000-ounce underground resource.
Whilst the RC work focused on developing assets, Aurumin’s 467-hole auger program ventured into the unknown and lit up five new targets exhibiting gold grades up to 1860 parts per billion. The new targets will be assessed further in the explorer’s next stage of work.
Leaning further into its gold venture, last month the company decided to expand its footprint with another tenement acquisition just 4km from the project’s existing processing plant.
The new tenement provides the company with additional exploration opportunities as it focuses on generating critical mass for future production.
Aurumin bought the Central Sandstone gold project for $12 million in cash and shares from Middle Island Resources in December last year.
The previous owner’s scoping study found the operation could be particularly attractive if the 500,000-tonne per annum processing plant was upgraded to 750,000 tpa and additional mill feed was secured.
Aurumin believes the underground component of its Two Mile Hill deposit has to potential to underpin a standalone operation at Sandstone with the project’s other open pits to serve as additional mill feed.
Aurumin plans to combine its Sandstone mineral resource with its nearby Johnson Range project of 64,700 ounces for an amalgamated 849,000-ounce operation.
However, the possibilities do not end there as the broader region’s defined gold inventory totals almost six million ounces, with no prominent producer at present.
London Bullion Market Association listed a gold price of US$1738.20 an ounce on Friday evening, nearing the precious metal’s 10-month lows in September last year.
In its mid-year Outlook for 2022, the World Gold Council warns investors will face a challenging environment during the rest of the year amid rising interest rates, inflation and resurfacing geopolitical risks.
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By Matt Birney
