OZZ Resources pegs up historic gold ground that yielded more than 1oz/t
OZZ Resources managing director Jonathan Lea says the new ground is a “fantastic addition” to the company’s Leonora portfolio.
It’s not often that you talk about a gold prospect in terms of ounces, rather than grams per tonne, but explorer OZZ Resources (ASX: OZZ) is doing just that noting the ground it has just acquired historically produced 1oz and 2oz per tonne between 1897 and 1911.
The historic mining ground is included in the package of four tenements acquired by OZZ in the Leonora mining district of Western Australia.
These tenements contain the old Linger and Die Goldfield operation and an established seven-bedroom mining camp.
This follows two months after, in January, OZZ earlier expanded its footprint in the Leonora mining district by adding a further 63sq km to its then recently acquired Pinnacle Well project.
Multiple targets, potential for toll treatment
On this latest ground acquisition, the company reports that previous drill testing has been largely shallow and patchy in what is a structurally complex area.
This provides “significant” potential for new discoveries.
An historical intercept of 9m at 17.04 grams per tonne gold is indicative of the area’s untested potential.
OZZ managing director Jonathan Lea says the area’s output could be toll treated at nearby plants or form the basis of a standalone operation in conjunction with the company’s nearby Pinnacle Well and Mt Davis projects.
There is scope for the definition of a high-grade resource given the historic production there which saw grades typically exceeding an ounce to the tonne.
“With existing understanding of the geological controls on mineralisation being limited, and with only patchy and typically shallow drilling completed to date, there are multiple, high-potential targets to be drill tested in 2022 and beyond,” Mr Lea added.
No drilling for eight years
The Linger and Die Goldfield operation is a collection of 15 defined historical prospects extending more than 1km east-west and 2km north-south, and is in a geological setting similar to that hosting the nearby 4.1 million ounce King of the Hills deposit owned by Red 5 (ASX: RED).
No drilling has been undertaken at the project since 2014.
However, modern exploration (from the 1970s until the 1990s) focused mainly on base metals mineralisation, although exploration for gold occurred in the 1980s and there was some mining of gold down to 30m.
Terrain Minerals (ASX: TMX) explored the tenements from 2008 until 2015 and drilled around known workings.