Torian strikes Leonora gold on two fronts

Gold explorer, Torian Resources has upped the ante at its Mt Stirling gold project near Leonora in Western Australia after early-stage auger vacuum drilling at its Tyrannus prospect unveiled a one kilometre long mineralised gold zone. The prospect lies some 1.5 kilometres from its 100,000 ounce Mt Stirling gold deposit.

The very next day, about 10km further south, the company unearthed a bumper grade gold discovery at the Unexpected Mine Workings prospect with drilling intercepting two metres at a cracking 12.18 grams per tonne gold.

New shallow hits to delineate the 1km Tyrannus gold zone include 1m at a solid 5.13 g/t gold from 14m, 1m at 3.46 g/t gold from 2m and 1m at 2.41 g/t gold from 16m.

Broader zones including 6m going 1.72 g/t gold from 10m and 4m at 1.73 g/t gold from surface were also intercepted.

Torian has adopted auger vacuum, or “AV” drilling in its regional exploration push across its tenure to identify priority golds targets for follow-up by more precise RC drilling.

The company says AV provides samples from overburden and shallow oxide zones for portable XRF analysis. The low impact and cost-effective drilling method seeks to detect leakage of mineralisation from the hard rock below, enabling the Torian to pin-point priority targets for deeper RC drilling.

AV drilling has now defined the 1km long oxide gold zone at Tyrannus.

Torian believes the mineralisation encountered at Tyrannus could potentially be part of a large and interconnected gold system at Mt Stirling.

To date, AV drilling at Tyrannus has identified 14 target zones where gold grade going more than 0.1 g/t gold was returned. Of those, seven areas delivered grade of 1.0 g/t gold or higher.

Torian now plans to launch a 20 hole RC campaign to test the priority targets at the prospect once all relevant permitting is approved.

Torian Resources Executive Director, Peretz Schapiro said:“We continue to see our methodical exploration strategy pay dividends, with numerous high priority targets being uncovered. Our recently updated geological model is really exciting as it points to the potential presence of one large and interconnected gold system.

Our exploration strategy ensures that the relatively more expensive RC holes are placed where we have already confirmed gold mineralisation. We are eager to end 2021 with a bang as we drill some of these exciting and highly promising targets.”

The Mt Stirling gold project consists of two separate adjoining blocks – the Stirling Block to the north and the Diorite Block to the south.

Tyrannus and the company’s 102,000 ounce Mt Stirling deposit lie in the Stirling Block. Torian’s nearby Stirling Well deposit, where 16,000 ounces of gold have been defined, is also located in the Stirling Block.

The company has been smashing out the metres in a regional exploration push at its Mt Stirling tenure and a new high-grade discovery in the Diorite Block appears to have added further potential to grow the resource base at the project.

A cracking 2m intercept going 12.18 g/t gold from just 20m depth,  including 1m at 14.67 g/t gold, has now been returned at the Unexpected Mine Workings prospect.

Other new hits in the Diorite Block include 4m at 4.95 g/t gold from 52m, 4m at 1.41 g/t gold from 64m and 2m at 1.11 g/t gold from 19m.

The new gold hits lie some 10km south of the Mt Stirling deposit.

Peretz Schapiro said:"We have always believed in the prospectivity of Diorite as it is a historically mineral-rich tenure situated within a very prolific region of the Goldfields. Today’s discovery justifies this belief.

We believe that these high-grade results are just the tip of the iceberg of what Diorite has to offer. We are excited to follow up on these results in the near future as we begin work on planning our next drilling campaign at Diorite.”

Torian looks set for a news-filled end of the year as its regional drilling campaign across its Mt Stirling tenure continues to gather momentum. The Perth-based explorer will likely continue to capture attention if the gold strikes keep rolling in – especially if the project delivers a few more 12 g/t hits it is already known to host.

Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact: matt.birney@businessnews.com.au