Godolphin Resources has turned up more gold at its Mt Aubrey gold project in NSW’s revered Lachlan Fold Belt after joining a gaggle of gold hopefuls looking to rejuvenate historical workings in the region northeast of Orange.
The best drill hole from its Phase 2 RC drill program hit multiple zones including 8m at 0.60 g/t gold from 56m, 2m at 1.22 g/t gold from 84m and 2m at 1.01 g/t gold from 96m.
The Perth-based, Orange-focussed mineral explorer said its latest drill campaign confirmed the gold-bearing quartz veins at the project extend for at least another 350m east of the historical open pit workings and are still open along strike.
The company said it intersected quartz veins that correlate strongly with magnetic lows highlighted in a recent geophysical survey, suggesting there may be more follow-up targets to vector in on during future exploration programs.
Two other drill holes hit wide intervals of gold mineralisation, including one 10m intersection grading 0.36 g/t from 24m and another 12m section that graded 0.41 g/t gold from 28m.
The Phase 2 drill program by Godolphin was designed to lock down the eastern extent of the gold mineralisation seen in its Phase 1 drill campaign. That program included one strong result of 7m at 1.52 g/t gold from 36m and 3m at an impressive 7.41 g/t gold from 99m.
Godolphin’s technical team will now integrate the latest results into its geological model ahead of the targeting of potentially deeper mineralisation close to the main pit and the possible widening of the mineralisation to the east of the pits.
Mt Aubrey sits in some hallowed ground around 70km northwest of Orange in the Lachlan’s northern region. Its address includes some well to do neighbours such as Cadia-Ridgeway and Alkane’s world-class Boda Porphyry discovery to the east and the Northparkes and Tomingley operations to the west.
Whilst historical records suggest artisanal activity as far back as the 1880s, the most important recent activity on Godolphin’s ground was the operations of BHP Gold.
The southern boundary of the company’s tenement package has three back-filled open pits which were mined by BHP in the early 1990s when the company said around 100,000 tonnes of dirt going 3.0 g/t gold was mined before the pits were filled in.
The Mt Aubrey epithermal gold project was a key plank in Impact’s 2019 IPO after acquiring the ground from Ardea with an existing inferred resource of 1.21Mt at 1.61 g/t gold for 62,400 contained ounces, using a 0.50 g/t cut-off.
Godolphin’s technical team now believes the Mt Aubrey vein system pinches, swells and bifurcates along its east-west strike of around 6km and the company is well into the hunt now chasing the swells with more drilling expected next year.
With its share price effectively doubling since April this year, some more solid gold hits at Mt Aubrey will cement Godolphin’s bragging rights in this uber-rich mineral terrain they call “The Lachlan”.
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