New assays from Navarre Minerals’ Adventure prospect show similarities to Magdala gold mineralisation
New drilling results from Navarre’s Stawell Corridor project highlight geological similarities with a nearby major gold mine.
New results from expansion diamond core drilling at Navarre Minerals’ (ASX: NML) Adventure prospect within the Stawell Corridor gold project in western Victoria have shown similarities to the nearby giant Magdala gold mine.
The advanced explorer recently completed 2,370m of drilling out of a planned 5,000m program to scope the depth potential of Adventure.
The work was carried out within the bounds of a recently-defined exploration target for the Adventure and Resolution prospects totalling between 3.4-5.2 million tonnes at a grade of between 2-3 grams per tonne gold for 280,000-420,000 ounces.
The results are believed to be consistent with this target and a maiden inferred resource of 3.89Mt at 2.43g/t gold for 304,300oz of contained metal.
Six recent holes
The new assays incorporated the six most recent holes completed at Adventure and highlight the geological similarities between the prospect’s quartz-sulphide lode structure and Magdala’s mineralisation.
The 5-million-ounce Magdala mine — which is privately-owned by one of Navarre’s major shareholders and located 20km to the north — is the model Navarre is using to hone its exploration programs.
Drilling focused on infilling a 350m gap in the strike extent between two holes completed in March, one of which assayed 3.2m at 9.6g/t gold and the other 8.4m at 3.4g/t.
These assays included the first recorded visible gold at Adventure.
Best results were 2.2m at 3.6g/t gold within a broader zone of 5.4m at 2.1g/t, which is within the target range.
All six holes intersected the main mineralised quartz-sulphide structure where expected with varying widths and grades, which is typical of a ‘lode-style’ gold system.
The structure remains open at depth and along strike with drilling indicating the potential for two ore shoots associated with areas of elevated arsenic and centred on the two holes completed in March.
Significant commercial deposit
Navarre managing director Ian Holland said the new results continue to advance the potential of the Stawell Corridor project as a significant commercial deposit.
“Drilling is interpreted to have tested around the tops of two potential gold shoots or ‘lodes’ where the geometry and position is heavily influenced by the undulating shape of the Irvine basalt dome,” he said.
“In lode-style systems, discrete high-grade gold shoots develop on the margins of large basalt dome structures, separated by areas of thinner and lower grade gold mineralisation [and] we believe our ongoing campaign will add significantly to the resource base here.”
He said the next five holes at Adventure would test underneath both gold shoots to examine their scope and extent.