Great Western starts next drilling phase at Yandal West gold project

Great Western Exploration (ASX: GTE) has kicked off another round of drilling at its Yandal West gold project in Western Australia’s mid-west.

The explorer today announced it has started a new nine-hole 800m reverse circulation (RC) drilling campaign targeting three prospects: May Queen, Harris Find and Ives Find.

This latest campaign follows the completion of high-impact RC drilling at Ives find in June.

Last month, the company reported initial drilling results from the previous program, with results from the Duck lode indicating that gold mineralisation continued along strike to the east and remains open in all directions.

However, a drill hole designed to test the Bell Miner high-grade lode reportedly “deviated significantly” and failed to intersect the lode at depth.

In its new drilling campaign, the company is planning to complete three holes at Ives Find in a second attempt to follow-up on the high-grade mineralisation at Bell Miner.

At the May Queen prospect, Great Western will drill a line of three holes 40m to the north of the southern line, where the company had previously intersected a wide zone of gold mineralisation across four holes including 3m at 5.01 grams per tonne of gold from a 44m depth.

Great Western is also planning three holes to test the 800m long Harris Find gold-in-soil anomaly that was identified as a high priority target in a structural study.

There has been no previous drilling in the Harris Find area.

According to the company, the Harris Find drilling is designed to better understand the geological profile to determine the most effective exploration method, given most of the target area is under shallow cover.

Yandal gold belt

Great Western holds 100% of most of the Yandal West project, with Diversified Asset Holdings Pty Ltd being free carried for a 20% interest in the Harris Find tenements only.

Located within Western Australia’s Yandal gold belt, the project lies 55km along strike to the northwest and north of the 3-million-ounce Bronzewing and 1.2Moz Mt McClure gold deposits.

Echo Resources’ (ASX: EAR) nearby Yandal gold project is focused on refurbishing the 2 million tonne-per-annum Bronzewing gold treatment plant.

Last month, the company launched a new round of drilling at its project, with its first target being the Bronzewing Northeast prospect, located on the same geological structure as the Bronzewing mine.