Venus scores gold hits at Sandstone project

ASX-listed gold explorer, Venus Metals Corporation has jagged a couple of high-grade gold hits from a round of reconnaissance drilling at the Range View prospect nearby its Bellchambers deposit as part of its historic 90 per cent-owned Sandstone gold project in WA.

Investors certainly liked the sound of the Range View drilling numbers, pushing Venus’ stock up 37 per cent in early trade on Friday to an intra-day high of 24¢ from a previous closing price of 17.5¢.

The Perth-based company recently completed a seven-hole RC drilling program for an aggregate 460 metres vectoring in on historical gold workings at the Range View and Western Ridge prospects. The two prospects are located 1.5 kilometres north-east and 2.6km north of Bellchambers, respectively.

Notable intersections at Range View were 11m at an average grade of 4.69 grams per tonne gold from 12m including an intriguing 1m at 38.92 g/t from 20m and 5m at 9.03 g/t from 18m, and 8m at 1.22 g/t from 30m including 1m at 4.48 g/t from 30m. Western Ridge returned a best assay of 1m at 4.35 g/t from 67m.

Venus says Range View sits along strike from the Bellchambers deposit, for which it published an increased indicated and inferred mineral resource estimate of 536,000 tonnes going 1.27 g/t gold for 21,800 ounces of contained gold in September last year.

Fellow ASX-listed gold explorer, Middle Island Resources is currently looking to revive the former Sandstone gold mining and processing operation up the road and has a feasibility study on the go.

Middle Island has built an inferred and indicated gold resource inventory of more than 746,000 ounces from a cluster of satellite deposits at its historic Sandstone project 12km south of the town of Sandstone that host a combined 20.5 million tonnes of ore at 1.13 g/t gold.

Bellchambers, about 23km south-west of the town of Sandstone, has a history of prospector mining dating back to the early 1900s, with recorded gold production of 3,688 ounces from 5,620 tonnes of ore at a bonanza grade averaging 21 g/t. Venus’ tenement covers most of the old Bellchambers mining area.

Based on airborne electromagnetic data modelling, Range View provides a large EM target extending along more than 2km of strike and down to more than 500m depth.

Venus’ latest RC drilling identified the high‐grade gold mineralisation beneath historical shallow drilling. It says the mineralisation is open at depth and to the east and is interpreted as the potential southern extension of the Range View gold lodes that were mined in the early 1900s.

According to the company, the drilling points to the prospectivity of the Range View prospect along the eastern Bellchambers‐Range View gold trend. Further drilling is planned.

While trade in Venus shares cooled a little in the afternoon session from early highs today, given its latest encouraging drill results, the company’s Sandstone project may yet have a few more gold riches to cough up.

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