Barton Gold expands Tolmer drilling to further investigate high-grade silver zone

Emerging precious metals producer Barton Gold (ASX: BGD) (OTCQB: BGDFF) has elected to expand the current drilling program at its promising Tolmer high-grade silver discovery.

Barton identified Tolmer as a high-grade gold discovery in August 2024 and subsequently uncovered a new ‘silver zone’ in a line of seven discovery holes with globally significant assays.

Barton confirmed the potential of the Tolmer silver find at the Tarcoola gold project in January, identifying the presence of high-grade silver in new assays.

Gold-silver association

Those assays also confirmed a strong association between gold and silver in quartz sulphide veining, similar to the primary signature of the gold mineralisation at Barton’s Tunkillia gold project.

The company recently commenced follow-up work with a reverse circulation (RC) drilling program of approximately 2,500 metres.

The program was designed to infill and extend both the western ‘silver zone’ and the eastern ‘gold zone’.

Additional target holes

However, following positive results from additional geological surface reconnaissance and early observations from drilling, Barton decided to expand the ‘silver zone’ drilling program to gather a larger amount of data on this area with the remaining time available in this program.

The company has re-allocated the seven drill holes it had originally planned for the eastern ‘gold zone’ to eight new holes in the western ‘silver zone’.

Barton has also elected to add a further 300m of drilling to the program and expanded its planned drilling from three to five lines of RC holes.

Gold drilling deferred

The decision to expand the silver hunt has led Barton to defer its planned gold drilling at Tolmer for the time being, ahead of the follow-up programs it anticipates commencing as early as July.

Barton expects to complete the expanded silver program this week, following which the company will fast-track assays for laboratory analysis and to inform its planning of follow-up drilling programs.

These will likely include additional RC work (including in the gold zone) and diamond drilling for structural orientation.