Barton Gold strikes high-grade assays in drilling of Perseverance open-pit floor
Barton Gold (ASX: BGD) (OTCQB: BGDFF) has announced high-grade assays from drilling at the Perseverance brownfields open-pit mine in South Australia’s Tarcoola goldfield.
The company completed 26 reverse circulation (RC) holes for a total of 1,688 metres and three diamond drilling (DD) holes for approximately 600m, testing for easily accessible open-pit mineralisation.
It reported shallow and broad intersections up to 12 grams per tonne of gold, which confirmed “attractive” pit floor mineralisation.
Strike and depth potential
Multiple new structures were also identified and are believed to indicate significant strike and depth potential beneath the lower benches of the Perseverance southwest pit wall.
Broad, high-grade intercepts associated with the Granite Vein structure near the current floor helped to reconcile modelled mineralisation and extend it to depth.
DD identified a 50m-wide zone of healed faults within the Paxton Granite, which will provide Barton with valuable geological context for work completed at the Deliverance prospect.
Encouraging results
Managing director Alex Scanlon said the results had been encouraging.
“This is an exciting start to the second part of our regional strategy of pursuing shallow, high-grade mineralisation in the Tarcoola goldfield,” he said.
“Our success in connecting deeper mineralisation to the existing pit floor and identifying shallow new structures is a significant boost in navigating the pathway toward potential Stage 1 operations.”
New structural targets
A 7,000m RC program is ongoing across Tarcoola, focused on priority structural targets including Tolmer, Mulgathing, Dark Hill and Warburton.
“With our neighbouring 1.5 million-ounce Tunkillia project entering scoping studies for a large-scale development, the economic contribution of nearby high-grade blending feed [from Tarcoola] could be substantial,” Mr Scanlon said.
Scoping work at Tunkillia started in April and is considered an important step along the road to commercialisation of the historic gold discovery.
The studies will include mine design, production scheduling, process plant, tailings storage, equipment, personnel and supporting infrastructure.