Navarre Minerals and Catalyst Metals hit high-grades and visible gold at Tandarra

Navarre Minerals (ASX: NML) and joint venture partner Catalyst Metals (ASX: CYL) have announced “encouraging” interim results from drilling on the Macnaughton and Lawry prospects within the Tandarra project.

The 50 hole, 5,741m aircore program at Macnaughton has confirmed multiple gold-bearing quartz reefs with notable results of 1m at 18.65 grams per tonne gold from 70m and 1m at 9.37g/t gold from 75m.

Two diamond holes tested beneath previous shallow aircore holes at Macnaughton and hit 2.45m at 54.81g/t gold from 230.7m, including 0.32m at 412g/t gold.

Visible gold was observed in both the diamond holes.

Tandarra is situated along the Whitelaw Fault, 40km north of the  22 million-ounce Bendigo gold field in Victoria, with Navarre owning 49% and Catalyst holding the majority 51% stake and managing the joint venture.

‘Major structural control’ of historic Bendigo goldfield

Catalyst says the fault is considered to be the major structural control of gold mineralisation at the historic Bendigo field.

The fault extends northwards of the Murray River and has been concealed beneath a blanket of younger, post-mineralisation sediments of the Murray Basin.

So far, drilling at Macnaughton has confirmed gold mineralisation over 1km of strike.

At the nearby Lawry prospect, infill drilling revealed “significant” gold grades across three holes close to the original discovery hole, including 6m at 3.16g/t and 2m at 16.33g/t.

Deep drilling at Tomorrow prospect

Meanwhile, at the Tomorrow prospect an eight-hole program of diamond and deep reverse circulation drilling is in progress.

These holes are to test depth extensions of up to 500m below surface.

Catalyst says two diamond holes have been completed with “significant” quartz-sulphide faut zones intersected at depths of between 180m and 450m down hole.

These newly discovered structures are interpreted as being fault repetitions “which could represent upside potential for the Tomorrow gold system”.

In 2018, Catalyst gained a 51% interest in the Tandarra project, having spent $3 million over four years on exploration

When the farm-in was agreed in 2014, one Melbourne newspaper speculated that Tandarra could be a “second Bendigo”, based on work by the Victorian Geological Survey.

In March 2019, Hancock Prospecting invested $13 million in Catalyst Metals.