Indiana onto new Gawler Craton gold target in SA

Indiana Resources has continued its run of success across South Australia’s revered Gawler Craton, with regional exploration drilling on the gold-rich Labyrinth Shear turning up a new gold discovery along strike from the company’s Ariadne prospect. Better results from the Ariadne East discovery include 8 metres at 1.2 grams per tonne gold from 36m and 4m at 2.28 g/t gold from 40m down-hole.

This new prospect is located 1,500m along strike from the Minos-Ariadne discoveries. The company has now identified significant gold mineralisation along more than 10 kilometres of strike.

Indiana’s recent program  of aircore and slimline reverse circulation drilling was focussed on the Lake Labyrinth Shear Zone, with 79 drill holes completed between the Partridge prospect in the north-west and the Ariadne East prospect in the south-east.

In addition to the company’s regional exploration drilling program over the Lake Labyrinth Shear, Indiana has also now completed its deeper diamond drilling campaign over the emerging high-grade Mino’s deposit, with the drill core having been transported to Adelaide for sampling and assay.

The company is now undertaking a detailed review of the drilling over the Minos prospect and may undertake infill and extensional drilling in the months ahead as it looks to unveil its maiden resource over the discovery.

Indiana Resources Executive Chairman Bronwyn Barnes said:“Our drilling programmes in the Gawler Craton continue to yield highly encouraging outcomes and these latest results from the LLSZ are no exception. This latest drilling completed along strike from previously reported high-grade intersections at Minos has highlighted several additional areas which require follow-up drilling. These results continue to demonstrate the significant potential of the LLSZ and further results from the recently completed diamond drilling are expected over the next months as the holes are logged, cut and sampled.”

The company currently owns an impressive 5,090 square kilometres of ground in the mineral-rich Gawler Craton, which is increasingly drawing in a stream of copper and gold hopefuls. The industry’s move into the underexplored terrane comes on the back of a rash of  new discoveries in the region including Coda Minerals’ recent Emmie Bluff iron oxide, copper-gold find that saw that company’s share price almost triple overnight.

In the gold space, recent ASX-debutant Barton Gold also holds a comprehensive ground position in the region and owns the mothballed Challenger mining and milling operation to the west of Indiana’s ground. Interestingly, Barton’s well-placed infrastructure may represent an accelerated path to production as Indiana’s discoveries on the Lake Labyrinth Shear take shape.

Whilst the company’s recent exploration has focussed on the Labyrinth Shear, the SA gold explorer is now casting its eye farther afield and is securing access and drilling permits for a raft of new targets across its extensive tenure in the region.

The company is now well-placed to ramp up its work program across Gawler and with a $3 million windfall from the excise of a swag of in-the-money options in its pocket, it looks set for busy run up to the close of the year.

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