Barton Gold mobilises drilling rig as work kicks off at both South Australia projects

Barton Gold (ASX: BGD) will next week begin its drilling programs at the Tarcoola and Tunkillia gold projects in South Australia — just two weeks after listing on the ASX.

The exploration team is already on site with the drill rig due to arrive early next week.

Barton listed on 28 July after its oversubscribed $15 million initial public offering, with the offer closing just five days after opening.

The rig will drill about 11,100m at the Tarcoola and Tunkillia projects, with Tarcoola to be first cab off the rank with a 5,100m program.

The drilling contractor is SA-based Bullion Drilling, which worked at Tarcoola late last year as Barton prepared its listing plans.

Barton says it is also aiming to conduct a high-resolution ground penetrating radar survey at Tarcoola in parallel with the phase one drilling program.

Drill program will build on 1.1Moz resource

Barton has a total attributable 1.1 million-ounce resource, being 28 million tonnes at 1.2 grams per tonne gold. It also owns the only regional gold mill in the central Gawler Craton of South Australia at Challenger.

The Tarcoola project, including a major historic SA gold mine, lies near the junction of the trans-continental and Darwin railway lines and, 70km to the south, there is the unmined Tunkilla project.

Tarcoola until 1956 was South Australia’s major hard rock gold mine, producing 77,000oz at an average 37.5g/t gold.

Mining resumed at Tarcoola in 2016 when the former WPG Resources worked the open pit and hauled ore to the Challenger mill, but the company went into receivership in 2018.

Barton holds 1,202sq km of ground at Tarcoola where the company has undertaken a detailed review of historical data, new high-resolution aero-magnetic surveys, geophysical re-interpretation, seismic and drilling.

The company also has existing infrastructure, including a 240-person mining camp, workshop, laboratory and an airstrip.

Barton managing director Alexander Scanlon says previous technical and drilling works had established new foundations for each of the company’s projects.

“With Tarcoola and Tunkillia located only 70km apart, and the benefit of established infrastructure in both locations, the company is well positioned to complete both programs as efficiently as possible,” he added.