Catalyst Metals and Navarre Minerals hit high-grade gold at Macnaughtan prospect
Drilling at the Tandarra joint venture project has returned mineralised intercepts grading up to 94.9 grams per tonne gold.
Joint owners Catalyst Metals (ASX: CYL) and Navarre Minerals (ASX: NML) have unearthed high-grade gold during an air core (AC) drilling campaign at the Tandarra gold project in Victoria.
The pair recently completed 42 holes of infill AC drilling on the southern extension of the Macnaughtan gold trend and 31 holes of reconnaissance AC drilling north of the newly discovered Lawry zone.
Drilling at Macnaughtan revealed significant gold mineralisation extending the strike length by 600m to 1.4km, although drilling at the Lawry zone encountered difficulties.
The most notable result from Macnaughtan is a 3m intersection grading at 94.9 grams per tonne of gold from a depth of 87m.
Other highlights include 3m at 7.8g/t gold within a broader interval of 18m at 1.6g/t gold from 75m, and 1m at 2.5g/t gold from 108m.
Catalyst technical director Bruce Kay said the results pointed to the Macnaughtan prospect becoming Tandarra’s second key structure besides the Tomorrow Zone discovery.
“The high grades and continuity of gold mineralisation revealed by this AC drilling are highly encouraging, confirming the potential of the southern Macnaughtan prospect to become the second significantly mineralised structure at Tandarra, in parallel with the high-grade gold intersections at the Tomorrow Zone, 250m to the east,” he said.
Further drilling required at Lawry
While high-grade gold was recovered at the Macnaughtan prospect, drilling at the Lawry zone didn’t fare so well.
According to a joint statement by the partners, the Lawry program encountered difficult drilling conditions resulting in only half of the drill holes successfully reaching bedrock and testing the target zone.
The companies said further drilling will be required to fully test the gold zone, which was first discovered in April.
This additional drilling is planned for the 2020-2021 field season, following the winter rains and cropping activity.
Follow-up AC and reverse circulation drilling is also planned at the Macnaughtan prospect during this 2020-2021 field season.
Tandarra gold project
The Tandarra gold project lies within a retention licence 51%-owned and operated by Catalyst with Navarre holding the remaining 49% stake.
It is located about 40km north of the 22-million-ounce Bendigo goldfield and about 50km northwest of Kirkland Lake Gold’s (ASX: KLA) Fosterville gold mine.
Tandarra sits on the Whitelaw Fault, which is considered to be the major structural control of gold mineralisation at Bendigo, extending northwards to the Murray River, concealed beneath a blanket of younger, post-mineralisation sediments of the Murray Basin.
Catalyst and Navarre confirmed the discovery of parallel gold mineralisation at the Tomorrow Zone prospect last October with diamond drilling returning gold at grades as high as 243g/t.
Last month, Navarre added another Victorian gold project to its portfolio with the acquisition of a 100% interest in a 122sq km licence area containing the historic Jubilee gold mine.