Horizon Minerals has nailed its first drill hole at the Windanya project 45 kilometres north of Kalgoorlie. A discovery hole hit a head-turning 2 metres grading 26.68 grams per tonne gold from just 35m at the project, setting it up as an immediate exploration priority for the company.
Windanya sits within the Bardoc Tectonic Zone where over 100 tonnes of gold from a range of deposits have been mined, including from the renowned Paddington gold mine just 15km away that has churned out some 40 tonnes of gold to-date.
The 57-hole air core drilling campaign tested the structure to a depth of 76m across several targets defined by Horizon in 2020.
The stand-out prospect within the suite of targets is the Gemini prospect where today’s exciting discovery was made. Gemini is located 1.5km north of the Capricorn prospect where previous drilling returned impressive hits including 9m at 4.6 g/t gold and 5m at 6.56 g/t.
Drilling between Gemini and Capricorn over two east-west lines returned more encouraging news for Horizon. Shallow anomalous gold intercepts appear to have confirmed the continuation of a mineralised structure which now extends for 3.3km running from the Eureka mine north of Gemini, through to the Aquarius anomaly south of Capricorn.
Drilling from Aquarius and the immediate region around it returned traces of gold with quartz veining observed in the holes. According to the company, deeper reverse circulation drilling is required to better-test the veins in fresh rock instead of the depleted regolith. This is consistent with Horizon’s view that historical drilling at the project has been too shallow to adequately test the bedrock.
To the south-west of Aquarius, another twenty-four holes were drilled at the Scorpio prospect and its surrounds, where historical drilling intersected mineralisation including 4m at 0.64 g/t gold. All assay results for this prospect are still pending. The company is planning further air-core and reverse-circulation drilling at Scorpio in the June quarter.
The announced results are part of an aggressive 70,000m drilling campaign aimed to make new discoveries and grow the existing resources across Horizon’s suite of tenements in the goldfields.
Horizon’s landholding in the region now covers some 890 square kilometres located within 75km of Kalgoorlie. A resource base from several satellite deposits on the tenure already hosts over one million ounces of gold, with the jewel in the crown being the Boorara deposit with 507,000 ounces in the measured, indicated and inferred categories.
The company is conducting a feasibility study on the Boorara production hub where an initial five-year mine life is anticipated. Base-load feed from the Boorara deposit is planned to be supplemented by the feed from four other deposits owned by the company, Teal Camp, Kalpini, Binduli and Rosehill. Horizon expects the feasibility study to be completed this year and it is targeting gold production for 2022.
Horizon Managing Managing Director, Jonathan Price said: “The aircore program at Windanya will soon be followed up by RC drilling and we look forward to releasing further results from this very exciting region in coming weeks. The Windanya and Baden Powell areas are now demonstrating the potential for new resources to be established within easy trucking distance of the proposed Boorara processing plant being assessed as part of the consolidated Feasibility Study.”
Horizon looks to have been bang on target with its maiden program at Windanya and with more results and oceans of drilling on the cards still, it is perhaps a fair bet that Windanya may yet have more gold riches to give up.
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