Tambourah Metals’ return to historic World’s Fair gold prospect a successful one
Tambourah Metals (ASX: TMB) has made a successful return to the site of an historic gold rush and received high-grade gold assays from the World’s Fair prospect within its Tambourah gold and lithium project in Western Australia’s Pilbara region.
After undertaking the first ever reverse circulation (RC) drilling campaign at World’s Fair, Tambourah has received the initial assay results from the recently completed program.
Highlight returns include 3m at 3.3 grams per tonne of gold from 23m, including 1m at 8.4g/t from 23m and 1m at 4.9g/t of gold from 2m.
High priority targets
The nine-hole, 1,388m World’s Fair drilling program kicked off in late September 2023, aimed at testing a number of high priority gold targets.
The targets were identified in detailed geological mapping completed earlier this year to delineate the granitoid intrusive unit and the surrounding mafic sequence to determine the stratigraphic controls to the World’s Fair gold mineralisation.
Gold mineralisation intersected in the recent drilling campaign is located within quartz veined zones within both the amphibolite and the granitoid body.
Tambourah has also completed a detailed differential global positioning system survey and a review of historic shafts and trenches at the World’s Fair prospect.
This, in conjunction with the geological mapping, helped delineate the company’s drill targets.
In June 2023, the company completed a Loupe transient electromagnetic (EM) method survey. This survey, completed by SGC, aimed to delineate EM conductors to a depth of ~30m below surface that may be associated with shallow lenses of sulphide-rich gold mineralisation.
Tambourah King results
In mid-November, Tambourah confirmed it had received the first assay results from the Tambourah King prospect, part of an RC drill program targeting the two main prospects at the Tambourah gold and lithium project in the Pilbara.
The program tested high priority gold exploration targets at the Tambourah King and World’s Fair prospects, with a total of 17 RC holes for 2,684m completed over the two.
Highlight results from Tambourah King included 2m at 18.0g/t gold from 55m, with 1m at 20.2g/t gold from 55-56m, and 5m at 6.1g/t gold from 69m, with 1m at 28g/t gold from 70–71m.
The company designed the campaign to test the grade and gold continuity in accordance with previous drilling interpretations following a 2022 drilling campaign.
The initial results confirmed the presence of continuity of high-grade gold mineralisation, with the 2022 and 2023 drilling programs identifying two zones of gold mineralisation approximately 2m wide with 8m separation between the zones.
These gold zones have been intersected in several drill holes and demonstrate up to 150m of continuous gold mineralisation which is currently open down plunge to the north.
Historic gold rush site
Open-source reports and publications note the World’s Fair granitoid intrusion and historic mining was completed in the 1890’s.
Lease records have identified that 3000oz of gold were mined from the World’s Fair prospects from the 1890s when gold was first discovered there.
After a short-lived gold rush, most of the area at Tambourah was deserted except for a couple of small mining operations by 1910.