ASX-listed Si6 Metals is set to shift its gold exploration activities at the Monument project in WA’s Laverton gold district into higher gear via commencement of a 125-hole air-core drilling campaign. A scheduled mineral resource update for its Korong and Waihi prospects is also just around the corner. Si6 says new gold anomalies have been defined at Monument and drill-target generation work is set to intensify.
Si6 Metals has not slowed down since entering an exclusive agreement to acquire 100 per cent of Monument from ASX-listed DiscovEx Resources in the second half of last year.
The project covers some 310 sq.km of tenure in the Laverton belt, which has produced more than 30 million ounces of the precious metal.
Monument is believed to host about 30km of under-explored banded iron formation, or “BIF” that is interpreted to be the same host-rock as the Westralia gold deposit located along strike to the south-east. Westralia is owned by ASX-listed Dacian Gold and is part of Dacian’s Mount Morgans 2.1-million-ounce resource base in the region.
Si6 has had its hands full in recent times with a 4,439m drilling campaign at the Korong and Waihi prospects as it looks to add ounces to the existing resources at Korong that total 855,000 tonnes going 1.8 grams per tonne gold for a contained 50,000 ounces of the precious metal.
Multiple new mineralised zones outside of the previous drill area at Korong have been identified, with hits including 6m at 3.15 grams per tonne gold from 95m, 5m at 3.22 g/t from 130m and 5m at 2.56 g/t gold from 124m.
At Waihi, numerous stellar intercepts have been reported including 4m at 5.89 g/t gold from 62m, 3m at 2.45 g/t from 113m and 3m at 2.38 g/t gold from 107m.
The company now reports that a much-anticipated resource estimate incorporating recently completed drilling at the two prospects is due for release in June this year.
Management has also laid out plans to start a 125-hole air core drilling program in the coming month.
The drilling will target intrusion-style gold mineralisation identified from geophysics data interpretation across the broader project tenure. The program will be the first of its kind at Monument and forms part of Si6’s successful application for a co-funded drilling grant under the WA government’s Exploration Incentive Scheme where 50 per cent of direct drilling costs up to $75,000 are reimbursed to the company.
The drilling will extend from the Two Bills prospect in the north to the southern edges of the tenure, with most of the targets to be tested lying along the main greenstone belt at Monument.
The main goal of the program is to map out the distribution of syenite intrusives prospective for bulk tonnage gold mineralisation, similar in style to other deposits on the Laverton Tectonic Zone such as Gold Fields’ seven-million-ounce Wallaby gold mine.
Meanwhile, Si6 continues to be active in generating further targets for future drill-testing at Monument.
The company says assays from lag and soil sampling programs at four prospects have now been received, with a peak lag sample going 4,920 parts per billion gold recorded at Perseverance. The sample was taken 150m east of the main line of a BIF outcrop where recent rock chip testing returned multiple results going over 1 g/t gold.
At the Fred’s Well prospect, a 450m-long lag anomaly has returned values greater than 30 parts per billion gold and a maximum value of 357 ppb gold. The anomaly remains open to the north where historic gold workings continue for 550m. Rock chip sampling along the historic workings late last year returned numerous results over 1 g/t gold with some going as high as 39.3 g/t gold.
At the McKenzie Well prospect, a 1.4km-long gold anomaly has yielded values greater than 10 ppb gold. The anomaly is believed to be associated with a north-east trending structure.
Si6 has also outlined plans for further target generation outside the main Korong-Perseverance mineralised corridor that to date has been the primary focus of exploration at Monument.
The company is currently in the process of compiling aerial imagery and geophysics data that will guide a major study looking to generate a plethora of new regional exploration targets for drill testing.
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