Navarre Minerals reports strong results from maiden drilling at newly-acquired Jubilee gold project

Victorian explorer Navarre Minerals (ASX: NML) has announced “encouraging” reconnaissance aircore assays from its maiden drilling program at the historic Jubilee gold project near Ballarat, Victoria.

Strongly anomalous gold grades intersected in weathered basement rocks above three gradient array induced polarisation (GAIP) geophysical anomalies at the drill target have also confirmed the potential for repetitions and extensions of the historically mined, high-grade Jubilee quartz reef.

All targets are believed to have returned anomalous gold grades of up to 1.5 grams per tonne associated with abundant quartz veining and have significantly expanded the footprint and robust nature of the project.

The gold zones occur within an interbedded sequence of weathered sandstones and shales that have been variably altered (silicified) and show elevated levels of arsenic of up to 0.1%, which is considered an important gold pathfinder in the region.

The grades are also considered significant given the early stage of reconnaissance drilling into the weathered top of the gold-bearing basement rocks.

Strong potential

Navarre managing director Ian Holland said there is strong potential in the aircore results, conducted across 49 holes for a total 3,444m.

“Considering the scale of the target, the favourable geological setting and the tenor of the

results being generated in this early phase of exploration, [we believe] there is potential to outline a large-scale gold system at depth,” he said.

First exploration

Navarre’s maiden program is the first exploration to take place at Jubilee in over a century, despite the project’s history of yielding high-grade gold from a single transverse quartz reef structure.

Mr Holland said the company is now preparing to conduct a confirmatory assaying program involving selective 2kg bulk leach sampling to test for the presence of coarse gold.

Meanwhile, a deeper target below the old mine workings remains to be tested with diamond drilling.

World-class district

Located in a world-class gold district, the highly-prospective Jubilee project consists of a single tenement over 122sq km.

It includes the 619m-deep Jubilee gold mine, which operated between 1887 and 1913 to produce a total 130,000 ounces gold at a recovered grade of around 12g/t from a single east-west trending (transverse) quartz reef.

The reef is believed to be one of Victoria’s best shallow examples of a transverse ore system, with a similar structural setting to the 2.5 million-ounce Swan-Eagle orebody in Fosterville and the 1.8Moz Tasmania Reef in Tasmania.

All of these orebodies are hosted in gold-bearing, quartz-sulphide veins, which occupy old fault structures and cross-cut a series of sedimentary beds.

Jubilee is also close to a significant operating gold mine and processing facility within the historical 12moz Ballarat goldfield.

Strategic acquisition

Navarre has lodged two exploration licence applications to secure a strategic tenement package over the western side of the Ballarat goldfield, adjacent to Jubilee.

They are subject to two other competing applications currently being considered by Victoria’s mining industry regulator Earth Resources Regulation.

The move follows the strength of Navarre’s exploration results at Jubilee to date, which commenced immediately following completion of the project’s acquisition in October