ASX-listed aspiring WA gold developer Horizon Minerals has kicked off this year’s Diggers & Dealers in Kalgoorlie with a couple of “stunning” thick, high-grade gold drill hits at one of the promising prospects within its Binduli gold project near Kalgoorlie. Best numbers from the company’s latest drilling at the Kestrel prospect are 18m grading an average 4.64 grams per tonne gold from 49m including 1m at a bonanza 56.65 g/t from 64m and 15m at 4.66 g/t from 84m including 1m at 21.69 g/t from 84m and 1m at 18.5 g/t from 98m.
Another of the stand-out intercepts was 5m at an average grade of 5.22 g/t from 94m including 1m at 18.91 g/t from 97m.
Perth-based Horizon’s initial reverse circulation program probing Kestrel consisted of 15 holes for an aggregate drilling coverage of 1,630m, with results still pending for eight holes including repeat assays due to high levels of nuggety gold panned from samples.
Kestrel’s gold mineralisation remains open along strike and at depth, according to the company.
Management has already started making preparations for a serious follow-up 10,000m RC and diamond drilling campaign to test for depth and strike extensions at Kestrel and other priority targets along the 10km Janet Ivy shear zone.
Horizon Minerals Managing Director Jon Price said: “These initial drilling results at Kestrel are stunning. With high-grade and near-surface mineralisation open along strike and relatively untested at depth, we are eager to commence (the) dedicated 10,000m RC and diamond program in the current September quarter. The drilling program will comprise step-out and depth extension drilling to 250m depth at Kestrel and will test a number of additional high-priority targets along the 10km Janet Ivy shear.”
The Binduli project area already takes in the advanced Crake and Coote prospects 7km to the south of Kestrel.
The Crake deposit hosts a measured, indicated and inferred resource of 1.27 million tonnes at 1.82 g/t for 73,820 ounces of contained gold.
Horizon says it sees the “emerging goldfield” as having the potential to become a significant contributor to the production profile of its proposed flagship Boorara mining and processing operation, also near Kalgoorlie.
Gold mineralisation at Kestrel typically occurs in quartz veins 3m-15m wide with minor pyrite and various amounts of silica-carbonate-sericite-chlorite alteration.
The company says the quartz veins appear to cross-cut lithological boundaries and are best developed in a feldspar porphyry host rock.
Local geology at Kestrel is dominated by the Black Flag Group, a north-north-west trending sequence of intermediate and felsic volcanics, sedimentary rocks and porphyry intrusives.
Horizon says the regional Janet Ivy shear zone meanders and gently cuts across the stratigraphy to the north-north-west, with late-stage north-east faults creating significant offsets.
The saline environment and strong weathering profile at Kestrel have led to a 30m depletion zone from the surface.
Gold was also panned from both the oxide and fresh quartz, which suggests there is a higher component of free gold than expected, according to the company.
Kestrel was identified from several near-surface anomalies generated by prior work that were either not followed up or drilled too shallow to penetrate the depleted cover.
Horizon says the recently encountered thick, high-grade intersections point to the highly mineralised nature of the quartz veining within the Black Flag sediments below the depletion zone.
Gold was also panned from both the oxide and fresh quartz, which the company says suggests there is a higher component of free gold than expected.
Drilling at Kestrel forms part of the company’s 50,000m drilling offensive this year vectoring in on high-priority advanced resource definition targets and emerging prospects across its tenement holdings in the Kalgoorlie region that cover about 1,100 square kilometres.
Horizon hopes to organically grow its project pipeline within a 75km radius of the proposed Boorara central gold production hub about 15km east of Kalgoorlie.
A “consolidated” feasibility study on the proposed Boorara project development was due to be completed in the second half of calendar 2021.
Binduli is one of about half a dozen keystone satellite deposits and projects being looked at in the study as potentially supporting an initial five-to-seven-year life of mine at Boorara.
Horizon’s spectacular gold hits from Kestrel will no doubt raise a few eyebrows among the more than 2,000 delegates attending the 30th anniversary edition of the Diggers & Dealers Mining Forum this week.
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By Matt Birney
