Novo strikes high-grade gold in first drilling program at NSW play

Novo Resources has delivered a suite of high-grade gold results from its maiden reverse circulation drilling program at its Tibooburra gold project in northwestern New South Wales. 

The company says its 14-hole for 1984 metre program confirmed its Clone prospect’s historic shallow, high-grade gold shoot for more than 300m of strike. Mineralisation remains open to the north, both down-plunge and down dip.

Standout intercepts include an impressive 12 metres running at 5.9 grams per tonne (g/t) gold from just 16m in its first hole, followed by a thicker 17m grading 2.4g/t gold from 59m along strike. Novo says the results fill a 180m gap in previous owner Manhattan Corp’s drilling, which returned hits such as 9m at 6.03g/t gold and 6m at 8.39g/t gold from close to surface, demonstrating strong grade and width continuity.

A recent rock chip sampling from mullock dumps around historical workings at Clone set the stage for the recent drilling program, yielding impressive peak grades of up to 89.6g/t and 41.9g/t gold. Quartz vein outcrops returned samples including 31.4 g/t and 10.4 g/t gold. 

The mineralised zone lies within a tightly folded turbidite sequence, with fold axes plunging moderately north-northwest, aligning with the high-grade shoots defined by drilling. 

This structural trend is part of a broader 22-kilometre mineralised corridor at the project, which extends from its Phoenix North to New Bendigo prospects, analogous to the orogenic gold systems of Central Victoria’s high-grade Western Lachlan Orogen.

Novo notes that the drilling program has activated its minimum spend commitments of $500,000 for the initial farm-in period with partners and previous owner Manhattan.

The company will now progress towards an additional $1 million spend over the next 12 months to secure a 70 per cent interest in the promising tenements. 

Novo Resources executive co-chairman and acting chief executive officer Mike Spreadborough said: “These projects are key priorities for Novo and the team is eagerly awaiting the results from geological and geochemical sampling campaigns, expected in mid-March 2025, which will allow us to effectively determine targets for drilling.”

The Tibooburra project covers 630 square kilometres across six exploration licences. The project encompasses the historic Albert goldfield, which has more than 200 old-timer workings identified along 22km of strike, but is under-tested by modern exploration.

At the New Bendigo prospect, 7km southeast of Clone, historical drilling has delivered exceptional results, including thick intersections of 30m at 4.03g/t gold from 11m and 8m at 40.5 g/t gold from 70m. 

Like Clone, New Bendigo exhibits a shallow northerly plunge, with the potential for repeated lodes at depth, which Novo plans to re-log in the hope of better understanding its gold controls ahead of extensional drilling later this year.

The company is now designing follow-up reverse circulation drilling at Clone to test the northern extension of the high-grade shoot. 

Novo’s work at Tibooburra complements its broader Australian gold portfolio, including active campaigns at its Egina gold-antimony camp in Western Australia’s Pilbara region. 

Novo has also earned the interest of Australia’s largest gold miner Northern Star Resources, which is earning a 50 per cent interest in Novo’s Becher and Belltopper projects in Victoria’s Bendigo Tectonic Zone. 

The company’s focus on high-grade gold in emerging Australian jurisdictions looks well and truly underway at Tibooburra. Its high-grade prospects could quickly deliver ounces and value to shareholders, with the company already setting its sights on follow-up drilling campaigns and a busy second half of 2025.

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