Reach Resources’ share price surged up 29 per cent this morning to 1.8 cents per share, some 125pc up on this time last week, after the company unveiled initial drilling results from its Murchison South gold project in Western Australia.
The first two reverse circulation (RC) drill holes intersected shallow high-grade gold, including an impressive 41-metre section grading 2.01 grams per tonne (g/t) that started immediately from surface. The intercept included a higher-grade 5m section of 10.01g/t from 36m.
The program comprised 14 RC holes for 1463m of drilling, which was focused on validating historical data while refining a new mineralisation model for the Murchison South project’s Blue Heaven deposit, in the hot property Murchison gold region.
Reach says the results confirm its updated mineralisation model that gold-bearing quartz veins host the intercepts and remain open at depth, supporting resource expansion opportunities.
The company expects assay results from the remaining 12 drill holes next week. The findings will guide upcoming resource definition work.
Reach Resources chief executive officer Jeremy Bower said: “These fantastic initial results give us a great start towards validation of the historic drilling and resource model at our Blue Heaven deposit. We have hit some high-grade shallow gold intervals, which align with the model, which is very encouraging, and we now eagerly await assays from the remaining 12 holes so we can get a complete understanding of our project.”
The Murchison South project is shaping up to be a growing priority for Reach, complementing its critical minerals portfolio that spans lithium, rare earths, niobium and manganese. While historically seen as a secondary asset, the project has gained renewed significance amid soaring gold prices, which recently surged to unheard of highs past $4600 per ounce.
Reach’s project sits near Paynes Find, about 430km northeast of Perth, which features a high-grade inferred mineral resource of 1.035 million tonnes at 3.2g/t gold for 105,000 ounces. Paynes Find has a higher-grade component of 582,000t at 4.7g/t for 87,000 ounces.
The project, formerly known as the Primrose gold project, recently underwent in-house and independent reviews of its gold mineralisation controls. The review exposed gaps in the resource block model and opened-up the project’s Blue Heaven prospect for additional, potentially close-to-surface resource expansion.
Reach says in addition to upcoming drill results, it plans to undertake metallurgical testing to assess the deposit’s processing potential, technical analysis to support pit design optimisations before further negotiations with mining contractors and nearby processing facilities.
Several gold mills are within trucking distance of the project, providing Reach with the opportunity to monetise its asset at today’s roaring gold price.
As the company awaits further assays, the strong early results at Blue Heaven indicate Reach could be sitting on a significantly expanded gold resource that might soon be monetised in a more than 15-million-ounce gold region which has the market absolutely humming.
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By Andrew Todd
