Australian gold explorer Torian Resources has clocked up a string of shallow gold intercepts adding to a burgeoning arsenal of strikes at its flagship Mt Stirling project, some 40 kilometres north-west of Leonora in WA. The latest set of results include a 24 metre intersection grading 2.02 grams per tonne gold from 10m downhole with an internal 3m section going 7.09 g/t gold from 17m.
Other significant results returned in the latest round of assays include 5m grading 1.94 g/t gold from 7m downhole, 9m giving up 1.64 g/t gold from 63m and 4m at 1.31 g/t gold from 41m.
Importantly, one drillhole intersected a 1m section grading 2.10 g/t gold from 44m that has extended the known mineralised corridor approximately 100m up-dip.
The company says ongoing resource definition drilling is progressing quickly with 20 of 38 planned holes already complete. Additional drilling of the nearby Skywing lode extension has also commenced with 2 of 36 planned drillholes finished. Torian plan to smash out the metres with an aggregate 17,500m of planned drilling across the two.
Two other RC rigs and a further aircore rig are currently at work across the greater Mt Stirling project with a third RC unit being mobilised to site this week where it will start peppering the company’s Tyrannus, Hydra, Stirling Well and Estera prospects nearby.
The aircore rig is currently grinding away at regional gold, arsenic and yttrium structural targets the company says have been growing through portable XRF analysis identifying anomalies and extending the strike of the surface footprint.
XRF analysis is a process where high energy x-rays or gamma rays are used test the elemental composition within rocks. The benefit of using this system is its instantaneous results as opposed to traditional technique of sending assays away to the labs for analysis.
The company does have a number of assays currently in the lab with the next round of results expected to flow back throughout late January and February.
Furthermore, a global mineral resource estimate is currently being calculated over the entire Mt Stirling gold project area and is pencilled in to be completed in the first quarter of 2022.
Drill results are also expected to return by the end of January from the Mt Stirling Central deposit where Torian recently sent a rig to test the ground following a discovery of rare earth element mineralisation in the area.
A key focus to date has been targeting the shallow portion of the Mt Stirling and Viserion gold deposits to define an indicated JORC resource across the 880m strike with drilling generally focusing on the top 125m of mineralisation.
The project occupies some prime real estate with several significant gold deposits sitting nearby to Mt Stirling, the most notable being Red 5 Limited’s King of the Hills mine, where a 4.1 million ounce gold resource has been delineated.
Torian Resources Executive Director, Peretz Schapiro said: “We are very pleased with the progress of our ongoing drilling campaign as we continue to infill our resource and extend it up and down dip and along strike.”
“The continued receipt of positive results indicate that updated global MRE may significantly increase the size of the Mt Stirling / Viserion resource as well as upgrade a significant portion of it to the JORC Indicated category.”
If Torian can continue the constant flow of solid gold results at its Mt Stirling project, the junior explorer could conceivably be paving the way towards a sizeable resource in the not-so-distant future within the well-endowed Leonora region.
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