Gascoyne Resources releases exploration target for Never Never gold deposit
Drilling on the western flank of Gascoyne Resources’ Gilbey’s North target has returned an average grade of 12.5g/t gold across a 59m intercept.
Gascoyne Resources (ASX: GCY) has released an exploration target for the Never Never gold deposit, located adjacent to the main Gilbey’s open pit at the Dalgaranga gold project in Western Australia.
The deposit’s lower target has been reported at 4 million tonnes grading 4.6 grams per tonne gold for 600,000 ounces of contained gold, while the upper target sits at 5Mt grading 6.2g/t for 1Moz.
It is inclusive of a resource estimate, which was recently upgraded to 2.03Mt at 4.64g/t gold for 303,100oz gold, including an underground resource of 0.93Mt at 7.22g/t for 216,600oz.
Lower limit tonnes indicate the target essentially doubles the current mineral resource estimate with the upside reflecting non-reportable ‘unclassified material’, which is the lateral extents of Never Never being confirmed by drilling and extended at depth.
The lower grade range has been derived from the global resource grade of the deposit’s mineral resource estimate while the upper is conservatively lower than the average grade of the indicated and inferred underground material informed by 30,000m of drilling during the last 12 months.
The 5Mt upper limit target is considered by Gascoyne to be conservative.
Highest-grade discovery
Never Never is believed to be one of the state’s highest-grade and fastest growing new gold discoveries and is backed by a wholly-owned, “restart-ready” 2.5Mt per annum gold processing plant and infrastructure.
Managing director Simon Lawson said the sizeable exploration target demonstrates the “enormous upside potential” on offer.
“This exploration target represents a commitment that we will rapidly build on our new resource and seek to substantially expand the high-grade Never Never deposit in the next 12-to-18 months,” he said.
“We firmly believe our team can keep the momentum going to expand Never Never and deliver a solid five-year mine plan in front of our wholly-owned process plant.”
Never Never drilling plans
Gascoyne plans to spend up to $15 million in drilling over the next 18 months at Dalgaranga with the majority focused on the Never Never deposit, as well as Never Never-style high-grade targets and potential baseload mill feed open pit resources such as Gilbey’s East.
An additional $10 million will be spent on an underground exploration decline and drill platform to assist with resource conversion, reserve drilling and deeper exploration work at Never Never and nearby high-grade positions.
The planned expenditure is subject to the completion of a financial restructure which the company is currently progressing.
Surface drilling will commence upon completion of the restructure with an initial program set to include 30,000m of reverse circulation drilling and 5,000m of diamond drilling.
Approximately 70% will be focused on Never Never and the immediate Never Never high-grade corridor.
Updated resource estimates for Never Never and the Gilbey’s Complex are planned for release this year using evolving litho-structural models informed by ongoing drilling and geological analyses.