Mining

Classic Minerals exposes gold-bearing zone at Kat Gap for first time

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By Imelda Cotton - 
Classic Minerals ASX CLZ Kat Gap gold

Classic Minerals is slowly mining and stockpiling river gravels separately for detailed sampling and assaying.

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The main gold-bearing zone at Classic Minerals’ (ASX: CLZ) Kat Gap project near Southern Cross in Western Australia has seen the light of day after being broken for the first time by a shallow test hole in the floor of the bulk sampling pit.

The hole was dug to determine the thickness of remaining silcrete overburden which hosts the deposit’s river gravel layer.

It exposed a small part of the main ore zone for geological observation.

Quartz veining

The zone consists of extensive dark grey quartz veining in strongly oxidised host granite and sits just 7 metres below the surface.

A 3 kilogram sample of quartz from the test hole was crushed and panned, and showed good amounts of fine visible gold.

Much greater widths are expected to be exposed when the removal of the overburden has been completed.

River gravel mining

Meanwhile, the river gravels are slowly being mined and stockpiled separately for detailed sampling and assaying.

All the top soil has been stored for future rehabilitation.

Classic’s bulk sample program at Kat Gap is expected to run for another six weeks.

Progressing to plan

Classic chief executive officer Dean Goodwin said the Kat Gap project is progressing to plan.

“It was great to finally see the main ore zone emerge from the darkness for the first time,” he said.

“The shallow test hole get a sneak peek at the ore before we remove the final 2m-thick layer of silcrete overburden and river gravels… it appears 7m below the surface, exactly where it should be.”

The visible gold from panning is an encouraging development.

“It was great to see gold in there,” Mr Goodwin said.

“The next phase is to strip off the remaining overburden and expose the entire orebody on the pit floor for the first time, when we will be able to have a good look at it.”

Gold rights

Classic Minerals has a 100% interest in the gold rights on the Kat Gap tenements (including Lady Ada, Lady Magdalene and Kat Gap) as well as non-gold rights including (but not limited to) nickel and lithium.

The company owns a global resource across the tenements of 8.24 million tonnes at 1.52 grams per tonne for 403,906 ounces of gold.