Classic Minerals hits high-grade intercepts at Kat Gap gold project
Classic’s 11-hole drilling program was designed to scope out the extremities of known gold mineralisation at depth.
Junior explorer Classic Minerals (ASX: CLZ) has announced high-grade gold intercepts from deep drilling at its flagship Kat Gap project in Western Australia.
The 11-hole reverse circulation program was completed for a total 1,940 metres, returning best assays of 6m at 8.94 grams per tonne gold from 142m including 1m at 44.43g/t from 146m; and 3m at 15.66g/t gold from 151m including 1m at 41.6g/t from 152m.
Other highlights were 5m at 3.47g/t gold from 155m; 1m at 8.68g/t gold from 103m; 2m at 4.87g/t gold from 145m; and 1m at 6.52g/t gold from 171m.
The holes were conducted as step-out along strike and down dip from known high-grade mineralisation on grid spacings of 20m by 20m and 20m by 40m, and to depths of 150m below surface.
They were designed to scope out the extremities of the mineralisation at depth and were drilled now to clear the way for future surface mine infrastructure.
Results were concentrated between 60m and 140m north of the cross-cutting Proterozoic dyke.
High-grade zones
Deep drilling intersected several zones of high-grade gold mineralisation down plunge and along strike from Classic’s previous strong results at Kat Gap.
Relatively narrow zones of low-grade gold suggested the plunge component of the high-grade zone was potentially steeper than anticipated.
Two of the holes which returned high-grade intercepts were drilled further south closest to the Proterozoic dyke than the program’s remaining holes, indicating a steeper plunge.
Classic said further deep drilling down dip and closer to the Proterozoic dyke would be required to test the steepness theory.
Previous deep drilling
A series of earlier deep infill holes announced in mid-2020 focused on testing a gap that had been artificially created between previous shallow reverse circulation holes testing the oxide profile and much deeper holes testing the down-dip extent of the main granite-greenstone contact lode.
The holes were drilled to an average depth of 100m below surface on grid spacings of 20m by 10m and 10m by 10m.
Best results from previous drilling were 3m at 6.74g/t gold from 101m including 1m at 15g/t from 102m; 4m at 18.97g/t gold from 76m including 2m at 33.75g/t from 77m; 2m at 10.73g/t gold from 74m including 1m at 19.9g/t from 74m; and 4m at 16.93g/t gold from 101m including 1m at 58.4g/t from 101m.
Classic said if the artificially-created gap could be filled in by zones of gold mineralisation, the project’s final optimisation work may drive pit designs deeper allowing access to more mineable gold-bearing ore.
The company is due to head back to Kat Gap next month to conduct further deep drilling of 15 holes of up to 250m depth for a total 2,800m, down dip and down plunge of the current inferred resource.