Barton Gold (ASX: BGD) (OTCQB: BGDFF) is making good progress with its latest drilling program at the high-grade Tarcoola gold field in South Australia.
Barton has completed almost half of the planned reverse circulation (RC) program of approximately 7,000 metres that began in mid-May.
To date, 3,126m of RC drilling has been completed across the School, Old Flame, Perseverance North and Tolmer targets.
The company is also looking to test new structural targets near the historic Perseverance mine.
Perseverance hits
Barton’s confidence in the area has been further boosted after new assays from recent pit floor drilling at Perseverance returned hits of around 12 grams per tonne gold and confirmed high-grade extensions of mineralisation.
The company has elected to pause drilling for a fortnight before wrapping up the remainder of the program with a focus on the Tolmer, Mulgathing and Warburton targets.
It has already dispatched priority samples to the lab for expedited analysis by fire assay based on preliminary in-field analyses.
The company is also using the current program to trial in-field use of Portable PPB’s DetectOre technology.
The CSIRO-invented technology has been developed to reduce the time required to discover and develop a gold deposit.
Good progress
Managing director Alex Scanlon said the current drill program has maintained a production rate of over 200m per day on average despite the challenges of drilling through quartzites.
“We anticipate another three to four weeks of drilling will complete this initial test of certain newly-predicted structural targets, with drilling to recommence after a two-week break for the drilling and exploration teams,” he said.
“We have expedited sample dispatch and assays for several hundred metres of this first round of drilling and our geology team is busy remodelling pit floor mineralisation in the Perseverance mine.”
“Our objective for Tarcoola this year is a steady flow of drilling, analysis and follow-up to pursue high-grade mineralisation.”
Dual opportunity
Barton’s new exploration work at Tarcoola is part of its strategy to commercialise its two historic South Australian gold deposits.
Barton recently engaged the highly regarded mining consultancy GR Engineering Services and Mining Associates to undertake detailed scoping studies for the Tunkillia project.
Barton also plans to follow up the study with a review of all technical data to determine the forward work program required to complete a pre-feasibility study.
The commencement of the Tunkillia scoping study comes after the project surpassed 1.5 million ounces earlier this year.
Market support
Investor interest in the Tarcoola and Tunkillia projects was recently highlighted when a Barton share purchase plan (SPP) closed early on the back of strong support.
The SPP received applications significantly exceeding the targeted raising amount of $1m following robust early demand.
This followed the successful completion of Barton’s $3m share placement earlier in the month.
