Barton Gold adds 20% to Tunkillia project with three new zones

Barton Gold’s (ASX: BGD) (OTCQB: BGDFF) aggressive exploration activities in South Australia this year have paid off with a new upgrade increasing the Tunkillia gold project joint ore reserves committee (JORC) mineral resource estimate (MRE) by 20% to 1.38 million ounces.

The recently completed 15,200m drilling campaign has added around 224,000oz of gold in the cornerstone 223 Deposit and the 223 North satellite gold zone for an estimated “all-in” cost of ~$16/new oz.

Total Tunkillia mineral resources are now 1.38Moz of gold contained within an ore body of 46.3 million tonnes at 0.93 grams per tonne gold.

Around 58% of the resource is classified in the “indicated” category.

Increased ounces and strike

The company’s recently completed multi-rig drilling campaign at the historic gold project added important new ounces to the project’s MRE while also significantly extending the known strike at both the southern and northern ends of the main 223 deposit.

The newly-identified and similar areas of approximately 300m of mineralisation were uncovered near both the northern and southern ends of the 223 deposit. The two new areas are offset from the main strike trend previously identified in an April 2023 JORC mineral resources block model.

“This is the second time that Barton has grown the Tunkillia project’s JORC resources during 2023, with a total of 413,000oz of gold added at an exceptionally low ‘all-in’ cost of only $14 per ounce. These results continue to validate the company’s exploration thesis for Tunkillia, with its mineral footprint rapidly expanding,” managing director Alex Scanlon said.

“We look forward to sharing another approximately 8,000m of assays from target Areas 51, 191, and SE Offset in early 2024.”

Three additional zones

Three new zones of mineralisation have been added into JORC classification with an increase of 224,000oz of gold (~20%) and an additional 3.8Mt moved into the ‘indicated’ category to maintain a ~58% ‘indicated’ classification.

This is the company’s third MRE update completed for Tunkillia since late 2020.

Barton acquired Tunkillia in December 2019 as a 558,000oz gold deposit believing the historic mine had significant growth potential due to limited historical exploration during a period of low gold prices.

Around 77% of all Tunkillia drilling was completed from 1996 to 2005 (gold below $610/oz), with another ~8% from 2005 to 2008 (gold average price ~$990/oz).

As a result, approximately 85% of all historical drilling was completed with a weighted average gold price below $640/oz and was, on average, very shallow.

New extensions identified

Barton has since confirmed multiple Tunkillia depth extensions and three new gold zones at Areas 223 North, 191, and 51, with three JORC MRE updates.

In November 2021, Barton confirmed the central zone of the 223 Deposit as a higher-grade priority development target area.

In April 2023, the 223 Deposit MRE was upgraded from 965,000oz to 1.15Moz of gold via significant depth extensions of 50 – 150m in three key target zones.

In April 2023, Barton added 189,000oz of gold for only ~$12/oz (all-in).

The current 224,000oz MRE upgrade has been completed at a cost of only ~$16/oz (all-in).

This meant Barton has added a total of 413,000oz of gold to the Tunkillia MRE at an average ‘all in’ cost of only ~$14/oz during the 2023 calendar year.

The new MRE update adds around 800m of mineralisation into JORC classification in the northern and southern zones proximal to the 223 Deposit, plus a further ~780m into JORC classification within the ‘223 North’ satellite gold zone.

A total of ~8.3Mt and ~224,000 new oz have been added for an estimated all-in cost of only ~ $16/oz with 89 reverse circulation holes (15,189m) completed at an estimated all-in cost of $3.6 million (including drilling, assays, logistics, labour, and Native Title costs).