ASX-listed explorer, Victory Mines has returned a clutch of broad gold intersections from a second major drilling program at its historic Coogee gold project about 55 kilometres south-east of Kalgoorlie on the north-eastern shore of Lake Lefroy.
The Perth-based company says results from 14 holes at Coogee – out of 40 holes to be drilled in the current RC campaign for a total coverage of approximately 6,000 metres – highlight the high‐grade nature of some of the thicker gold intersections at the project.
Notable assays from the batch of results received for the first 14 holes were 20m at an average grade of 2.87 grams per tonne gold from 96m including 4m at 7.33 g/t from 100m, and 8m going 3.74 g/t from 76m including 4m at 5.28 g/t from 80m. Other encouraging gold drill hits from the same program included 16m grading 2.24 g/t from 76m.
Victory has completed half of the RC holes for an aggregate of 2,827m and expects the drilling program to be completed by the end of this month.
According to the company, upside potential lies in the fertile gold-bearing trend carrying on north of the historic Coogee open pit and hosting additional high‐grade gold mineralisation, analogous to the Coogee pit along strike, down dip and down plunge.
The latest drilling now extends the down-dip continuation of high‐grade gold mineralisation intersected in drill holes during the December quarter last year.
Victory Mines Executive Director, Matthew Blake said: “The significant gold intercepts returned north of the Coogee pit are highly encouraging, in both their thickness and grade. Importantly, this second drilling program confirms our belief that robust gold mineralisation extends beyond the previously mined Coogee pit.”
For much of the remainder of the 6,000m program, the company intends testing down dip and down plunge of high-grade intersections and for northern strike extensions of the delineated north-west‐south-east mineralised trend north of the Coogee pit.
In 2012, Victory’s former Coogee joint venture partner, WA gold miner Ramelius Resources estimated an indicated and inferred mineral resource for the Coogee deposit of 224,000 tonnes at an average grade of 4.1 g/t gold, from which it defined ore reserves of 109,000 tonnes at 5.1 g/t for 18,000 ounces of contained gold.
The company subsequently carried out open-cut mining operations at Coogee from August 2013 to February 2014, with 35 per cent more tonnes extracted than the ore reserves estimate.
Coogee ore was processed at Ramelius’ former Burbanks gold treatment plant, 8km south of Coolgardie and 112km from the project area. It produced about 20,400 ounces from the 152,800 dry tonnes of Coogee open-pit ore that was milled at an average plant head grade of 4.7 g/t gold.
Seven years later, it released a remnant inferred and indicated mineral resource for Coogee of 96,000 tonnes at 3.4 g/t for 10,600 ounces of contained gold in before Victory became involved in the project.
Victory’s first couple of drilling sorties appear to be teasing out further extensions of the mineralised lodes outside the old open-cut mine environs and below the pit.
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