Si6 Metals has wrapped up another bundle of solid drill results from a first-phase reverse circulation program undertaken at two key prospects at its Monument gold project, approximately 40km west of Laverton in WA’s North-Eastern Goldfields. Notable intersections from the recent drilling at the Korong prospect included 5 metres going 2.56 grams per tonne gold from 124m and 5m at 2.03 g/t from 60m, while the Waihi prospect chimed in with 4m at 5.89 g/t from 62m and 3m at 2.45 g/t from 113m.
They follow last month’s significant gold hits from Korong including 6m grading an average 3.15 g/t gold from 95m and 5m at 3.22 g/t from 130m, and an assay of 3m at 2.38 g/t from 107m from Waihi.
Korong and Waihi are perched on a relatively untested gold-bearing banded iron formation that stretches for about 30km within the Monument tenement holdings.
An existing inferred resource estimate for Korong of 855,000 tonnes of ore at an average grade of 1.8 g/t for 50,000 ounces of contained gold was released by the previous owners of Monument three years ago.
Perth-based Si6 says the banded iron formation is interpreted to be the same unit that hosts Dacian Gold’s nearby Westralia gold deposit immediately south-east of the Monument project boundary.
To-date only 10 per cent of the 30km strike length at Monument has been probed with detailed RC and diamond core drilling to a nominal depth of 100m-150m.
The company says it has identified at least five other targets from geochemical sampling and previous aircore drilling along the banded iron formation horizon.
The recently completed phase-one Korong and Waihi RC drill program consisted of 34 holes for a total coverage of 4,363m.
It was designed to test for strike extensions to existing mineralisation, high-grade shoot extensions at depth and the prospective basal banded iron formation unit.
The junior explorer says the drilling was also aimed at validating historic drill data in preparation for future resource calculations.
According to the company, the encouraging drill intercepts further extend the areas of known mineralisation at Monument – including north and south at Korong.
Interestingly, results from two holes drilled at the south end of Korong point to a south-plunging mineralised shoot that Si6 says appears to be a near-surface repetition of the main high-grade shoot located at the centre of Korong.
Management says drilling of the main mineralised high-grade, south-plunging shoot system further shores up the “overall robustness” of the near-surface mineralisation at Korong.
New assays from under-explored strike extensions have also uncovered additional shoot repetitions, which remain open to the north and south.
Si6 Metals Executive Chairman, Patrick Holywell said: “Drilling at Korong successfully identified mineralisation over a total strike length of 550m, and most importantly, the mineralisation remains open down plunge for a number of south-plunging mineralised shoots.”
Si6 says “significant upside” potential remains at both Korong and Waihi to delineate near-surface gold resources, with both prospects remaining open in all directions.
Validation of the latest Korong and Waihi drill data and 3D geological modelling are under way in preparation for a new Korong mineral resource estimate, which the company expects to release later this quarter.
The Monument project area covers about 300 square kilometres of tenure that lies in the northern extensions of the revered Laverton Tectonic Zone, a region that has yielded a wealth of gold mining operations and boasts an endowment of more than 30 million ounces of gold.
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By Matt Birney
