Meeka Metals says it has gathered high-grade gold results from 10 infill air-core (AC) drillholes in shallow oxide rock at its St Anne’s resource target about 30km north-east of Meekatharra, including a 7m hit at a grade of 3.51 grams per tonne gold with 2m going 9.84g/t.
The company says the results are supported by other high-grade intercepts in adjacent holes, including 1m at 13.45g/t. Other high-grade results include a hole yielding 6m going 3.71g/t gold from 53m including 2m at 9.09g/t, while a second hole jagged not only the 7m running 3.51g/t gold from 26m, but it also included 2m going 9.84g/t.
Additionally, a third hole bored through 15m at 1.47g/t gold from 34m and another ran through 5m at 2.15g/t gold from 68m, which included 2m going 4.95g/t.
Lastly, a fifth hole yielded 14m going 2.28g/t gold from 53m and included a pleasing 2m running 4.57g/t, which included the 1m interval shining brightly at 13.45g/t gold.
The results are from the first 10 holes of the St Anne’s program, with others pending for the remainder of the 17-hole campaign. The 10 holes comprise seven holes in the northernmost zone of St. Anne’s and three in a smaller zone centred about 350m further south.
Meeka Metals managing director Tim Davidson said: “These results confirm the up-dip position and continuity of gold in the shallow oxide zone at St Anne’s, which is important as we position the pits for mining. Along with the recent strong results from Turnberry infill drilling, the St Anne’s results will inform an open pit grade control model and updated production plan, further supporting the development ready status of the Murchison Gold Project in early 2024.”
Davidson said the company was in the process of submitting its remaining development approval documentation, which it expected to be cleared in the first half of next year.
Drill sections from the recent program show a well-defined depression in the base of oxidation within the area of best mineralisation, as is common in highly-sheared terrains owing to the greater permeability and oxidation of the rocks affected by intense shearing.
St Anne’s has an estimated mineral resource of about 277,000 tonnes at an average grade of 2.8g/t gold for a contained 25,000 ounces of gold. The new assays are expected to support and further expand the original resource estimate before a revised update early in the new year.
Mineralisation at St Anne’s forms an 800m, north/north-east-trending gold anomalous corridor, which occurs within a broad alteration zone. The update will also consider the remaining results still to come for the three holes from Meeka’s infill drilling at its Turnberry target, about 5km north of St Anne’s.
Turnberry has an estimated mineral resource of 685,000 ounces of gold at an average grade of 2g/t.
Both Turnberry and St Anne’s lie within the Gnaweeda greenstone belt on the eastern margin of a shear zone related to the northern extensions of two main structural lineaments – the Evanstone-Edale and the Youanmi shear zones, which are also associated with other gold occurrences in the Sandstone greenstone belt sequence.
Meeka’s Murchison gold project encloses 281 square kilometres of prospective ground and includes more than 1.2 million ounces of gold resources. The company put out a feasibility study in July detailing its proposed pathway to production, which envisages gold production for a recovered 663,000 ounces of gold during an initial nine-year period.
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By Doug Bright
