Barton Gold targets Tunkillia resource upgrade after exceptional drilling outcomes at Area 191

Barton Gold (ASX: BGD) (OTCQB: BGDFF) has highlighted the potential of the Area 191 zone of its Tunkillia gold project in South Australia with the sighting of visible gold in new drilling results.

Managing director Alex Scanlon said the initial returns from Barton’s new drilling activity at Area 191 show an emerging high-grade resource target at Tunkillia.

“These are the highest-grade assays yet at Tunkillia and suggest the potential for a high-grade system just to the northeast of the current 1.38 million ounce joint ore reserves committee (JORC) resource.”

“Such high-grade mineralisation could significantly enhance Tunkillia’s development profile,” he added.

“We will certainly review this further as we build out Tunkillia’s footprint.”

The current program at Area 191 has returned a number of high-grade gold intersections highlighted by hole TKB124D, which hit 3.83 metres of gold at 68.0 grams per tonne from 104.1m depth – with visible gold in the core.

Growing resource

Previously drilled by Barton in August 2021, the Area 191 gold zone currently extends approximately 250-300m in width and 650m in strike length.

In the 2021 program, Barton completed eight reverse circulation holes totalling 1,128m of drilling at the target, with shallow high-grade assays complementing drilling results from earlier drilling by prior owners.

In October 2023, the company elected to undertake a follow-up campaign of two diamond drilling (DD) holes to gain additional information regarding the orientation of mineralisation and determine the next steps to pursue a potential JORC resource.

The company is now undertaking an infill drilling campaign at Area 191 to further validate the results from previous campaigns.

Shallow high-grade zone

Drilled at a 90-degree angle to a southeast-northwest trending structure, the success of hole TKB124D is highlighting the potential for the area to contain a shallow zone of high-grade mineralisation.

The hole was drilled to test the structural model and has successfully confirmed the existence of a north-dipping fault with significant intervals of high-grade gold present in the hanging wall and extending to the north away from the fault.

While prior drilling at Area 191 hit high-grade gold in multiple locations, Barton believed there was lack of structural context, leading to the desire to undertake the infill program.

Hole TKB124D appears to have now confirmed prior drilling results around this location and identified the hanging wall zone as a priority up-dip and down-dip target for high-grade mineralisation.

Area 51 also showing promise

Earlier this month, Barton reported promising drilling results for the Area 51 gold zone at Tunkillia.

Located around 4km northwest of the main 223 deposit area, Area 51 was the fifth new gold zone Barton had confirmed within this radius during the past two years.

Three of these zones were converted to JORC resources during December 2023 and Barton is now reviewing Area 51 for the same potential.

Drilling has extended mineralisation at Area 51 to over 700m, with a significant ‘core zone’ identified to contain broad gold mineralisation in excess of 40 gram-metres and a significant amount of DD undertaken to inform local geology and structural controls on mineralisation.

External resource consultants are now working with Barton to evaluate the potential conversion of Area 51 mineralisation into new JORC resources.