Millennium Minerals steps up gold exploration at Nullagine in Pilbara

With resilient gold prices providing a strong landscape for gold explorers, Millennium Minerals (ASX: MOY) has reported exploration at its Nullagine gold project in Western Australia’s Pilbara is continuing to deliver “compelling” results.

The gold junior said reconnaissance exploration had identified two new high-priority exploration targets (Sunday and Calico Jack) within the project’s Twenty Mile Sandy region in proximity to the high-grade Redbeard gold deposit, which has an inferred resource of 245,700t grading 2.6 grams per tonne gold for 20,600 gold ounces.

Drilling has also “significantly” extended the mineralised zone at Shearers North which is only 11km from the company’s processing plant.

According to Millennium, the results to-date reinforce the “outstanding prospectivity” of Nullagine and support the company’s strategy to increase production to around 100,000 ounces of gold per year, with an initial five-year mine life as a minimum.

Nullagine’s prospective future

Currently, the gold explorer has several prospects at varying stages of exploration at Nullagine’s Twenty Mile Sandy region with the added benefit of a processing plant located approximately 40km away.

Some of the more encouraging results from its new Sunday target include 9m at 4.64g/t gold from 13m including 1m at 33.9g/t gold.

At the Calico Jack target, rock chip samples assayed up to 23.2g/t gold. An 85-hole drilling campaign is underway at Calico Jack with results pending from the completed 42 holes.

“The identification of two new highly-prospective targets in the region surrounding the Redbeard oxide gold discovery is a really positive development, indicating strong potential to delineate additional oxide resources in the Twenty Mile Sandy Area – which continues to emerge as our sixth mining centre,” Millennium chief executive officer Peter Cash said.

Over at Shearers North which is closer to the processing plant, the deposit hosts a current resource of 0.44 million tonnes grading 1.3g/t gold for 17,700oz of contained gold.

Infill drilling was undertaken at Shearers North to extend the known resource, with initial results returning 21m at 3.38g/t gold from 32m with a 5m interval comprising 11.43g/t gold.

Other notable results were 9m at 2.77g/t gold from 42m with 3m at 5.25g/t gold, and 11m at 2.83g/t gold from 43m.

“In addition, in-fill and extensional drilling at Shearers North is also delivering positive results, with latest drilling showing plenty of scope for resource growth as we continue to define a much larger gold system extending to the north of the Shearers pit,” Mr Cash said.

Mr Cash added “exploration continues to support our objective of delivering a step-change increase in production and mine life at Nullagine, in parallel with our plant expansion program and the development of new underground mines to unlock the deeper sulphide resources.”

By late morning trade, Millennium’s share price was up almost 6% to A$0.18, after the company had an early morning run which saw the share price rise almost 9% to hit A$0.185.