Sultan Resources confirms drilling at Tucklan gold project shows similarities to McPhillamy’s mineralisation
Drill core from Tucklans is similar to Regis Resources’ McPhillamy’s bulk tonneage orogenic gold deposit which 2.29Moz of contained gold in resources.
A maiden drilling campaign at Sultan Resources’ (ASX: SLZ) Tucklan gold project in the Lachland Fold Belt region of New South Wales has intersected zones of veining and sulphide mineralisation believed to be similar in style to the nearby 70 million tonne McPhillamy’s deposit.
Six holes for a total 1,554.3m drilled in December encountered hydrothermally-altered volcaniclastics and coherent volcanic facies containing multiple generations of veining and sulphide mineralisation, in zones up to 136m thick.
Three holes reached their target depth of approximately 350m while the remaining three were hampered by excessive ground water.
Sulphide mineralisation was visually estimated to be at least 1.5% throughout the interval and dominated by pyrite and pyrrhotite although significant sphalerite, galena and chalcopyrite were also noted in some veins.
McPhillamy’s similarity
One of the failed maiden holes pierced a strong IP ‘bullseye’ anomaly and revealed an array of sulphide-rich vein sets hosted in a mineralisation style similar to that of the McPhillamy’s gold deposit owned by Regis Resources (ASX: RRL) and located in a similar geological setting some 130km to the south.
McPhillamy’s is a bulk tonnage, orogenic gold deposit containing a total resource of 70 million tonnes at 1 gram per tonne gold for 2.29 million ounces.
Sultan managing director Steve Grove said many of the characteristics associated with the deposit’s gold mineralisation can be observed in the core from Tucklan.
“Although the gold content of veining and alteration intersected by our holes is not yet known, the extensive surface geochemical gold anomaly and presence of gold to over 1g/t in altered pyritic volcanic rocks at surface indicates that a gold-fertile hydrothermal system has been operating at Tucklan,” he said.
“The discovery of a McPhillamy’s-style gold system at Tucklan could be a transformative event for [us].”
Mr Grove said once assay results are received from the six holes, Sultan would decide on the next stage of drilling, including the possible addition of diamond tails to the holes affected by water and the inclusion of some aircore work.