Barton Gold uncovers bonanza silver grade of 17,600g/t at Tolmer prospect in South Australia

Barton Gold (ASX: BGD) (OTCQB: BGDFF) has reported a series of high-grade assays from shallow aircore drilling at the Tolmer prospect within its Tarcoola gold project in South Australia.

Results from the November campaign include a bonanza near-surface silver grade of 17,600 grams per tonne, independent of gold and within a broad halo of anomalous lead mineralisation.

Best assays were 11m at 0.73g/t gold and 165g/t silver from 9m including 3m at 2.28g/t gold and 439g/t silver from 16m, 17m at less than 0.02g/t gold and 109g/t silver from 7m including 3m at 314g/t silver from 9m and 6m at less than 0.02g/t gold and 4,747g/t silver from 46m including 1m at 17,600g/t silver from 46m.

High-grade assays

These follow assays from the company’s reverse circulation (RC) drilling in January that confirmed high-grade gold and silver mineralisation within the Tolmer system, with highlights of 1m at 2.16g/t gold and 241g/t silver from 79m and 4m at 24.6g/t gold and 82.8g/t silver from 95m including 1m at 83.6g/t gold and 312g/t silver from 97m.

Those results indicated a gold-silver system characterised by broad alteration zones containing higher-grade quartz-sulphide veining.

They also showed high-grade silver associated with elevated levels of galena, similar to the gold mined at Tarcoola’s historic Perseverance open pit.

Exciting addition

Barton managing director Alexander Scanlon said the bonanza grades were an “exciting addition” to the Tolmer discovery.

“This style of silver-dominant mineralisation appears to be previously unrecognised in the Tarcoola goldfield, with some of the best intersections sitting within the transitional zone between the oxidised and fresh domains,” he said.

“Our aircore rig was unable to penetrate the underlying hard quartzite fresh rock; however, we completed 2,230m of follow-up reverse circulation drilling to test for potential depth extensions of the gold-silver mineralisation below this horizon.”

Major opportunity

Mr Scanlon said the Tolmer discovery was a major opportunity for Barton as it progresses development of its South Australian gold portfolio.

The company has developed a new model of the historical high-grade goldfield and is confident Tolmer will confirm its belief in the deposit’s significant upside.

Barton expects to report assays from the follow up RC drilling program in upcoming months.