Junior explorer Venus Metals Corporation, together with joint venture partner Rox Resources has continued its golden run of high tenor drill hits after tabling a fresh set of results from recent work at the company’s flagship Youanmi gold project in WA. Notable results from recent drilling include 3.25 metres grading a formidable 32.22 grams per tonne from 282m downhole and 4m going 10.91 g/t gold from 196m downhole.
Other significant results received from the latest round of drilling include 1.12m grading a stellar 48.01 g/t gold from 299.78m, 2.09m going 5.71 g/t gold from 281.82m downhole and 3m at 3.33 g/t gold from 273m downhole.
Solid results recently received add further support to the possible scale of the Youanmi gold system with a recent resource estimate update coming in at a whopping 1.34 million ounce upgrade. The upgrade takes the total Youanmi gold resource to the coveted 3 million ounce mark and perhaps just as importantly – the grade clocks in at an enviable 3.78 g/t gold.
The resource upgrade equates to a significant 156 per cent increase following a seven month period of intensive infill and extensional diamond drilling for approximately 35,000 metres at the Youanmi Deeps deposit.
Near surface resources have not been updated in the recent resource estimate however the company plans to incorporate them into the next estimate expected in the June 2022 quarter.
23 RC holes and five diamond drill holes recently drilled at the Youanmi project are also still pending assays and the company says they will be included in the next resource upgrade.
The recent drilling aimed to test extensions of historically mined high-grade stopes with results confirming mineralisation down plunge to the northwest. Drilling has defined an area of high-grade mineralisation within close proximity to existing underground development, with results likely to contribute towards converting the inferred resource to indicated status.
The recent drillholes also served to evaluate the prospectivity of the remaining pillars left unmined underground during pre-1942 mining operations at Youanmi. Remarkable results received from the pillars include 0.73m grading 38.65 g/t gold from 266.6m downhole and 1.2m going 5.84 g/t gold from 149.6m downhole.
Rox Resources' Managing Director, Alex Passmore said: “The high-grade results reported today add further confidence to our mining scenarios which are being progressively developed. Pleasingly, drilling in near mine areas that were left behind by historical (pre-1942) mining operations when the gold price and mining methods were vastly different to today is showing good widths and grade of mineralisation. Elsewhere in the newly delineated areas of mineralisation (Link and Junction) we continue to prove up the continuity of gold lodes.”
With a resource estimate now exceeding a serious 3m ounces from drilling up until October 2021 and a shed load of drillholes still pending assay, Venus and Rox look to be unearthing a significant gold deposit at Youanmi. It seems that every round of assays of late have multiple extraordinary gold hits attached and the latest round with hits going over an ounce to the tonne gold did not disappoint either.
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By Matt Birney
