Strickland Metals is hitting its’ Millrose gold project in WA hard with three drill rigs to remain on site for much of 2022. Drilling is currently focused on laterite hosted gold from surface to 20m depth grading more than 1 g/t gold. Strike and depth extensions are also key targets in a big push to add to the company’s 603,000-ounce Yandal belt gold resource ahead of the development of a mining plan.
The flagship of Strickland’s Yandal belt project is the Millrose gold resource which currently consists of 346,000 ounces of gold at a respectable open pit grade of 1.8 g/t gold.
Drilling at Millrose is underway with 23,000m of RC and diamond drilling planned to attack extensional targets to add to the gold resource.
Laterite gold mineralisation is currently being drilled with target depths between surface and 20m. The known strike extent of the laterite gold mineralisation is over 300m and the company believes that it will provide early cash flow when Millrose is developed for mining.
RC collars have also been drilled to enable the diamond core rig to test for depth extensions at the Millrose North gold deposit. The first two core holes have been completed and samples will be progressively sent for assay, leading to strong ongoing news flow in 2022.
The Millrose North deposit has previously demonstrated high grade gold zones and is now being targeted to assess the potential for deeper open pit and underground mine development. High grade zones will be drilled out on a close spaced 20m square grid. The diamond core will assist the company to assess structural and weathering controls on gold mineralisation and measure bulk density for resource calculations.
At Millrose, the gap between the southern and northern deposits will be hit with RC drilling as Strickland searches for both supergene and primary gold.
Aircore drilling has intersected gold mineralisation to the north and south of the Millrose deposits and the company says this indicates the potential for 3kms of additional gold mineralisation which is a key target for the current drilling programme. RC drilling will initially be undertaken on 90m spacings along strike with assay results driving the next phase of infill resource and extensional drilling.
The drill programme will feed into a planned mineral resource upgrade later in 2022 which the company says is likely to comprise a significant addition to the current resource. After the resource upgrade Strickland plans to consider the commencement of a scoping study for the development of the resource.
Notably, the Millrose gold deposit is on a major shear zone that extends another 30km south giving Strickland bucket loads of blue-sky potential. Millrose is also only 30km from Northern Star’s massive and highly profitable Jundee gold operation that boasts a deposit exceeding 10 million ounces of gold.
The company believes there is outstanding potential to rapidly add to the existing gold resources at Millrose and an updated resource estimate is expected in later in 2022. Strickland is now furiously drilling and doesn’t look like stopping anytime soon as it attempts to make its way into the elusive million-ounce club.
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By Matt Birney
