Northern Cobalt prepares for exploration drilling at Goodpaster gold joint venture project
Northern Cobalt will commence a 7,500m drilling campaign at the Goodpaster gold project in the beginning of 2020.
Multi-commodity explorer Northern Cobalt (ASX: N27) has announced it will commence a 7,500-metre drilling campaign at the Goodpaster gold project in Alaska during the northern winter with joint venture partner Millrock Resources.
Drilling will include comprehensive testing of highly-prospective targets established on the West Pogo Block of the brownfields project, adjacent to the Pogo underground gold mine owned by Northern Star Resources (ASX: NST).
The targets were identified during a recent geophysical survey conducted by TSX-listed Millrock which detected “gently dipping conductive zones” potentially indicative of gold mineralisation in the same regional shear zone which hosts Pogo and appears to be a continuation of Northern Star’s recent Goodpaster prospect into the Northern Cobalt/Millrock claims.
Initially intersected in late 2017, the discovery hole assayed 4m at 64.5 grams per tonne gold.
Numerous lines of evidence point to an area along the local Aurora Creek valley, directly along strike to the south-west from a high-grade discovery reported by Northern Star.
Preliminary work
Millrock and Northern Star have entered into a Shared Use Agreement to govern safety protocols on the state-owned Pogo Mine road once the drilling campaign starts in the first quarter of 2020.
The agreement will help ensure safe road use through communication and defined travel protocols and provide for pro-rata sharing of road maintenance costs.
A work campsite has already been established at Mile 39 of the Pogo Mine road and will serve as a base for drilling contractors.
A laydown area has been cleared at Mile 45.5 and will serve as a storage area for drilling equipment and supplies.
Northern Cobalt and Millrock have started construction of a 6.5km-long drill trail from Pogo Mine road to Aurora Creek and will drill a well to provide a local water source during the winter months. The partners have already secured a water well contractor.
Northern Cobalt managing director Duncan Chessell said the preliminary work has been progressing well, “Millrock has leapt into action and we are pleased with progress towards our planned commencement of winter drilling in the first quarter of 2020” he said from Anchorage, Alaska.
The technical team from Northern Cobalt and Millrock are meeting to plan the details of the upcoming drilling programs.
Earn-in agreement
In October, Northern Cobalt entered into a US$20 million binding term sheet with Millrock whereby it can earn up to 80% in the Goodpaster project.
The project is adjacent to the Pogo mine, which has produced 4 million ounces at 13.6g/t gold.
Annual production from the mine is around 300,000oz and it has a resource of 6Moz gold.
Northern Cobalt plans to change its name to Resolution Minerals Ltd under ASX code RML and will seek shareholder approval at the 2019 AGM on 26 November 2019.