Gascoyne Resources says high-grade assays confirm scale of Never Never gold discovery
Drilling at Gascoyne’s Never Never deposit has hit high-grade gold grading up to 36.2 grams per tonne.
A series of strong assays from resource definition drilling at the Never Never gold deposit within the Dalgaranga project in Western Australia have confirmed the scale and significance of the discovery for owner Gascoyne Resources (ASX: GCY).
The high-grade results are located down-plunge and below the limits of an initial mineral resource estimate released in September.
They are believed to confirm consistent widths and grades and support the company’s updated estimate scheduled for the new year.
Best results
Best assays were 18.54m at 17.88 grams per tonne gold from 319m including 6m at 36.2g/t; 27m at 8.32g/t gold from 342m including 11m at 13.2g/t (reinforcing a previously reported 12.57m at 34.5g/t from 397m); 35m at 7.67g/t gold from 225m including 10m at 20.4g/t; and 31m at 6.46g/t gold from 263m including 17m at 10.4g/t gold.
Gascoyne’s geology team also identified a number of potential Never Never ‘lookalike’ structures adjacent to the existing Gilbey’s gold deposit at Dalgaranga.
Initial drill testing of these targets returned intercepts with good grades and widths, such as 71m at 2.40g/t from 1m including 30m at 4.2g/t; 60m at 2.35g/t from 141m including 3m at 14.5g/t; and 3m at 38.2g/t from 124m including 1m at 106.7g/t.
All assays will be incorporated into the updated resource estimate.
High-grade gold deposit
Never Never is a high-grade gold deposit which strikes and plunges in a south-westerly orientation immediately north of the main Gilbey’s open pit at Dalgaranga.
The deposit was discovered in August while following up wide, high-grade drill intercepts from the Gilbey’s North extension discovery.
Never Never is distinct from Gilbey’s North with considerable differences in tenor, thickness of mineralisation, mineralogy, scale, orientation and host structure.
It is also a much higher grade discovery than previously-defined ore bodies at Dalgaranga.
Since announcing an initial gold resource estimate of 79,600 ounces for the Never Never deposit, Gascoyne has drilled and defined further potential extensions down-plunge beyond 500m and through the central and lower areas of the ore body to improve resource classification.
Drilling included several holes with visible gold and resource extents remaining open at depth.
Dalgaranga suspension
Last month, Gascoyne announced it would suspend the open pit mining and processing operations at Dalgaranga and transition the on-site mill to care and maintenance.
The company cited abnormally high rainfall, labour shortages and the impacts of the global pandemic as primary reasons which led to reduced production levels, higher costs and negative cashflow from operations.
“Furthermore, it is clear that despite the significant potential of assets such as Yalgoo, Gilbey’s North and Never Never, the transition to mining this higher-grade ore is not affordable and cannot be optimised at the current time given Gascoyne’s liquidity position,” it said.
Discussions have commenced with contractors and creditors with a view to restructuring Gascoyne’s financial position and enabling Dalgaranga to remain on care and maintenance in the medium term.