Novo spies Pilbara gold project potential in drilling results

TSX-listed Novo Resources says recent results at its Becher and Nunyerry North prospects highlight the potential for its Egina project in the Pilbara to become a standalone gold production hub.

The company has identified multiple targets across its Becher prospect after completing more than half of its 30,000m air-core campaign and has highlighted the district as a priority for an upcoming RC drill campaign following shallow gold hits along an area it has interpreted to extend to De Grey Mining’s extraordinary nine-million-ounce Hemi gold discovery.

Novo has completed 650 holes for 16,500m of the drill program over both the Irvine and Whillans shear corridors where the company has identified several quartz-veined and large-scale sulphide alteration zones. The campaign has enabled the explorer to home in on new and enhanced targets identified from recent aeromagnetic and radiometric surveys.

Initial results from the Becher air-core program include a 20m hit going 0.67 grams per tonne gold from surface and another nearby hole recording 12m at 0.24 g/t gold also from surface. The drilling also identified a large zone of alteration across a 650m strike length near the intersection of the Whillans shear and the northern Irvine shear corridor.

Previous reconnaissance air-core drilling in the Becher area highlighted anomalous gold-arsenic-antimony zones and returned intercepts up to 4.38 g/t gold.

At the company’s Nunyerry North prospect, Novo has extended its gold soil anomaly over a 1.4km strike with a second 1.2km soil anomaly highlighted south of the main target earlier this year.

Previous rock chip samples from the Nunyerry area returned results including 8.81 and 7.39 g/t gold. This follows samples taken last year from quartz veins with impressive figures including 30.3 g/t, 21.1 g/t and 19 g/t gold.

Novo Resources Co-Chairman, Dr Quinton Hennigh said: “Alteration assemblages, lithologies, geochemical associations and size of these mineralised areas are similar to those observed in other nearby large gold discoveries. Although we have lots more drilling to complete and results to come in, the anomalies suggest that deeper drill testing is required."

The company holds around 10,500 square kilometres of tenements within its Pilbara portfolio including a number of gold prospects at its Purdy’s North project near Karratha. In June Novo announced it is preparing a feasibility study on gold resources at its Beatons Creek project in the Pilbara after spending the previous year or so mining the shallower oxide resource.

Whilst the early results from the current air-core campaign at Becher are not earth-shattering in terms of grade, the consistency and shallow depth of the discoveries, in addition to the relative proximity of the Hemi resource, gives Novo cause of optimism and a significant number of targets for the upcoming RC program that will focus on deeper deposits.

The company also has further assays pending and an additional 13,500m of air-core drilling to complete at Egina. The market may well keep a close eye on  what the explorer can unearth in the coming months.

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