First assays indicate growth potential at Barton Gold’s Tunkillia project

Barton Gold’s (ASX: BGD) Tunkillia gold project in South Australia already has a JORC resource in place — and initial assays from the latest drilling highlight its growth potential.

The company started this most recent drill program in September, where it is targeting depth extensions of the 223 Deposit and the new Area 51 zone.

Initial results from reverse circulation drilling at the 223 Deposit within Tunkillia support the existing modelling and indicate potential extensions at depth and along strike.

Tunkillia hosts a JORC resource of a contained 965,000 ounces of gold, with the cornerstone zone being the 223 Deposit. Over the past 20 or more years there has been little drilling outside 223 Deposit.

Some 90% of the existing JORC resource resulted from drilling between 1996 and 2008, with most of that period seeing a gold price below US$500/oz.

‘Entirely new’ gold zones discovered

Initial results from the recent campaign at Tunkillia include Hole 58, where drilling intercepted three gold zones assaying, respectively, 5m at 2.69g/t, 3m at 5.15g/t and 5m at 9g/t. First mineralisation was hit 243m down hole.

Hole 65 went through 1m at 23.5g/t at 146m down hole, and then at 257m depth struck 20m at 0.88g/t. Hole 69 returned 3m at 4.48g/t and then, at 275m another zone with 10m at 2.52g/t.

The 1m interval grading 23.5g/t was the best in this assay batch, and Barton expects there is potential for higher-grade mineralisation in the new Main Deeps zone, a target that lies below 223 Central.

Managing director Alex Scanlon said the company is on the right track for potential resource growth and Barton expects a steady flow of additional assay results over the January-March period.

“We are very excited to see indications of not only depth extensions, but entirely new gold zones hiding in the ‘shadow’ of the mafic footwall dyke,” he added.

South Australian landholding

Barton listed in 2021 with assets including Tarcoola near the junction of the trans-continental and Darwin railway lines and, 70km to the south, the unmined Tunkillia project.

In addition, Barton owns the region’s only gold ore processing mill, the Challenger plant (as well as the mothballed Challenger mine which is not deemed a priority).

Tarcoola, until 1956, was South Australia’s major hard rock gold mine — producing 77,000oz at an average 37.5g/t.

The Tarcoola area was South Australia’s great hope in the 1930s with the state government at that time financing prospectors to go and work there in the effort to increase gold revenue.

Across Tarcoola and Tunkillia, Barton has firmed up 1.1Moz in contained gold resources.