Reach Resources’ latest drilling program has confirmed the company’s gold model with mineralisation intersected in every hole, validating historical results at the company’s Murchison South gold project, near Paynes Find in Western Australia’s gold-rich Murchison region.
The company now plans to optimise pit shells targeting the shallow, higher-grade, narrow-vein gold encountered within the project’s low-grade mineralised envelopes. The envelopes extend to a depth of 100 metres to 150m and have the potential for extensions.
Independent mining consultant Mining Plus has been charged with the task of incorporating the latest data into the gold model they constructed to focus on high-grade areas within an optimal pit shell design.
Mining Plus is an international firm operating across Europe, Africa, Oceania, Asia and the Americas, servicing projects in more than 40 countries globally.
The Murchison South project, formerly known as the Primrose project, comes with an inferred mineral resource at its Blue Heaven deposit of 1.04 million tonnes grading 3.2 grams per tonne (g/t) gold for 105,000 ounces.
Reach has an extensive historical database of about 300 drill holes from previous work at Blue Heaven.
It drilled 11 holes in the latest program to test the accuracy of Mining Plus’ mineralisation model. An additional three holes were exploration holes seeking to test the estimated position of the Primrose fault.
Management believes the drill program successfully met its objectives due to all drilling being conducted along the perceived position of the Primrose fault and encountering gold mineralisation in every hole drilled.
The company’s focus was to define high-grade gold areas within the existing resource to determine prime areas for future mining development.
It says the results confirm its model that gold-bearing quartz veins host the intercepts and remain open at depth. Reach now has an opportunity to expand the resource to improve the project’s viability or catch the eye of a willing suitor.
The company also has a non-JORC compliant resource at its Pansy deposit that it can target with additional drilling to elevate to JORC-compliant status. The non-compliant resource stands at 124,000t at 2.1g/t gold for 8300 ounces.
The Primrose fault runs through the projects’ Pansy deposit, up along its Blue Heaven deposit to the north and continues further north to other untested ground held by the company.
Reach Resources chief executive officer Jeremy Bower said: “We are very pleased with the results of this program as they align with and confirm the interpretation of the mineralisation from the model recently developed by Mining Plus. There are over 300 holes drilled at our Blue Heaven deposit, including high grade, shallow intersections and a JORC-inferred resource.”
New gold assay results from Murchison South consist of 9m at 1.32g/t from 50m, including a high-grade slice of 1m going 6.59g/t from 52m, and a 9m hit running at 1.07g/t from 58m. They provide evidence of continuity of the precious yellow metal from reasonably shallow depths.
The latest hits from the 14-hole 1463m campaign come hot on the heels of standout results from the company’s first two reverse circulation drill holes.
One hole returned a stellar interval of 41m running at 2.01g/t gold that begins from surface. It included 15m at 2.01g/t from 2m and a high-grade 5m section at 10.01g/t from 36m.
Previous standout gold drill results from 300 historical holes include 2m going 50.5g/t from 22m and a superb 3m at 92.1g/t from 41m, including 1m at a super grade of 271g/t from 42m.
The company will shortly choose samples to undergo initial metallurgical testing to better understand the potential for gold recovery.
Management says the project has an existing mining lease and native title agreements in place. Like many fellow goldies at present, Reach may consider engaging in a profit-sharing arrangement with a specialist firm.
Any specialist firm will need to be prepared to fund mining and hauling of ore to a nearby processing plant. Profits would be split equally between Reach and a specialist mining firm after processing costs.
Reach could easily consider going it alone to some degree, as it has a healthy $4 million sitting in its bank account.
Management has indicated its top 20 shareholder base is stable, reflecting their belief in the company’s ongoing strategy to maximise its existing projects on hand.
Reach has refocused its recent efforts on the Murchison South project to enable the development of a small optimised open pit, high-grade gold operation. With gold prices booming at more than $4600 in local dollars, the strategy makes perfect sense.
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By Craig Nolan
