ASX-listed gold explorer, Torian Resources has received the final assay results from an RC drilling campaign planned to culminate in an updated mineral resource estimate next month for its Mt Stirling gold project about 40km north-west of Leonora in WA. The company piled on a number of high-grade drill hits in the run-up to the revised gold resource, with the latest stand-out intersection being 4 metres at 10.53 grams per tonne gold from 240m.
Other notable intercepts among the last batch of drill numbers from the project’s Mt Stirling deposit are 1m grading an average 10.71 g/t from 118m and 2m going 5.5 g/t from 298m.
Mt Stirling hosts a previously estimated inferred resource of 727,021 tonnes of ore at an average grade of 1.45 g/t for 33,893 ounces of contained gold.
Torian says the interpreted strike length of the Mt Stirling “shear-hosted gold system” now exceeds more than 1.16km and the deposit’s interpreted depth now goes beyond 300m courtesy of the recent drilling program.
The Mt Stirling Main Zone, Hanging Wall and Viserion lodes at Mt Stirling all remain open along strike and down dip according to the Perth-based company.
Torian says a string of gold values from this year’s drilling surpasses those of the prior maiden resource estimate’s 2019 global average grade.
Torian Resources Executive Director, Peretz Schapiro said: “This continues to fill us with confidence that when our interim resource estimate is completed it will result in a significant revision to our tonnage and gold ounces at Mt Stirling.”
“Importantly, the system continues to remain open in all directions, meaning that once the resource estimate is received, we will continue drilling to define both the extent of the strike and depth of the system.”
Earlier impressive intersections from Torian’s RC drilling campaign at Mt Stirling include 2m at 48 g/t from 106m, 3m at 9.91 g/t from 158m and 4m at 8.84 g/t from 187m.
Further encouraging Mt Stirling gold drill hits have been 4m at 5.99 g/t from 133m, 3m at 5.35 g/t from 18m, 12m at 4.74 g/t from 15m, 6m at 4.58 g/t from 49m and 23m at 1.45 g/t from surface.
The company has also kicked off a round of 20 RC holes for an aggregate drilling coverage of about 2,200m at nearby Mt Stirling Well as it also looks to expand that deposit’s existing inferred resource estimate early in the September quarter this year.
Mt Stirling Well’s previously estimated inferred resource stands at 253,500 tonnes of ore at 2.01 g/t for 16,384 ounces of contained gold.
Torian says its resource estimate consultant, BMGS will use data from a combined total of 85 RC and diamond holes to calculate the interim Mt Stirling resource, 30 of which are historical and 55 of which the company has drilled.
Torian launched a massive 50,000m brownfields and regional auger, RC and diamond drilling campaign within the Mt Stirling project area’s Stirling and Diorite blocks this year that it hopes will tease out more gold in the well-endowed Leonora region.
Approximately 14 million ounces of gold have been produced from mines such as Tower Hills, Sons of Gwalia, Thunderbox, Harbour Lights and Gwalia in the fertile gold district.
Torian’s Mt Stirling project also lies within cooee of Red 5’s developing 4.1-million-ounce King of the Hills gold project, while the Diorite block in the southern half of the project takes in the historic rich Diorite King gold mine.
According to mindat.org, old timers eked out 1,134 tonnes of ore from Diorite King that coughed up a bonanza grade averaging 73 g/t to produce 2,800 ounces of gold between 1897 to 1922.
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By Matt Birney
