Great Southern sets sights for maiden gold resource with new WA drilling

Great Southern Mining has its sights set on a maiden gold resource with a new drill campaign at the company’s Golden Boulder prospect, an exciting sub-set of its Duketon gold project in the Eastern Goldfields. The 7000-metre RC program is aiming to carve out a maiden resource in the north of Golden Boulder where previous drilling defined 650m of semi-contiguous gold mineralisation.

Great Southern is also looking to extend the known mineralisation to the south along a prominent north-south structural trend that hosts multiple gold deposits owned by the $4.7 billion ASX-listed Regis Resources. 

Regis’ Rosemont mine, which has produced more than 2 million-ounces of gold, is the standout deposit along the trend which also hosts its Baneygo (380,000 ounces) and Ben Hur (390,000 ounces) mines.

Great Southern plans to target the southernmost 1.3km of the prospective trend with a first-pass drill program, to bolster its range of prospects at the southern end of the ground.

The company is armed with a suite of high-grade results from previous campaigns at Golden Boulder. Notable intersections of 5m at 14.57 grams per tonne (g/t) gold from 41m, including 1m running at an impressive grade of 70.94g/t, 2m going 12.56g/t from a depth of 99m and 4m grading 5.64g/t from 63m should all inspire plenty of confidence in the current program.

Further hits of an 8m stretch at 3.9g/t from 44m, 3m at 4.8g/t from 18m and 12m going 1.3g/t from 44m, highlight the potential for further shallow mineralisation at the prospect.

Historic workings at Golden Boulder between 1900 and 1955 also returned stellar grades, with 1,915 tonnes mined at an average 28.6g/t for 1,761 ounces of the precious yellow metal.

Great Southern Mining managing director Matthew Keane said: “The Great Southern team is excited about the current program at Golden Boulder. Along with infill and extensional drilling, it will also test priority targets in the south of the tenement, which until recently, have been restricted by heritage protection buffer zones.”

The company is cashed-up for its drilling campaign too, having recently sold its Southern Star mining licence to Regis and received the initial $4 million cash payment. Potential for up to a further $5 million depends upon discovery of economic mineralisation and gold pricing thresholds.

Management last week revealed it had locked in $337,500 of co-funded drilling grants from the West Australian Government’s Exploration Incentive Scheme (EIS) and plans to use the bulk of the funding, $220,000, towards two deep diamond holes at its Ogilvies prospect within Golden Boulder’s target zone.

The company says the two diamond holes will be critical in defining the stratigraphic and structural controls on the high-grade gold mineralisation found near surface.

The two deep holes totalling 1,600 metres, will probe the potential of the gold system at depth, revealing the rocks and structures running through Great Southern’s piece of the Rosemont Shear. They will provide vital data in its quest for a significant discovery at the project.

The remaining $117,500 EIS co-funding will fund a 900m diamond hole to test base metals and platinum group element targets within the Diorite Hill layered intrusive complex at its East Laverton project.

The EIS diamond drilling will begin early next year, following the RC program at Golden Boulder and a 7000m air-core (AC) drill campaign taking place at its highly prospective Amy Clarke target, also part of the Duketon project.

Shallow AC drilling and soil geochemistry has defined a 5km surface gold anomaly at Amy Clarke with drilling back in 2021 returning 8m at a solid 6.73g/t from 32m, including an excellent 4m slice grading 12.5g/t and 4m going 2.13g/t from surface.

Notably, Great Southern has full ownership of the Duketon gold project and its East Laverton base metals – platinum group element project.

With a solid wad of cash in the bank, a plethora of targets currently being tested and many more prospects to feel the hard edge of the drill-bit in coming months, Great Southern may be worth keeping an eye on.

Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact: matt.birney@businessnews.com.au