Western Mines Group intersects ‘high-grade’ gold at historic Rock of Ages target
Maiden drilling at Western Mines’ WA project has hit anomalous gold mineralisation in all five holes.
Western Mines Group (ASX: WMG) reports that assays show its maiden drilling campaign at the Rock of Ages project in Western Australia intersected grades up to 9.18 grams per tonne gold.
The recently completed reverse circulation program was the first test drilling on the ground since in the 1980s.
The Rock of Ages, near Laverton in Western Australia, was mined between 1902 and 1911, producing 2,074 ounces of gold at 50g/t.
Western Mines said the latest assays returned 4m at 5.08g/t gold (including 2m at 9.18g/t from 90m) and another hole had two zones intersected, 4m at 2.71g/t and 2m at 1.03g/t.
Drilled to test old gold workings
The drilling was designed to test a series of shallow mine shafts and workings over a strike of about 600m.
Western Mines said it is planning follow up drilling.
Five holes were drilled to a maximum depth of 150m, with anomalous gold present in all the holes.
The company notes that the results suggest the dip of the mineralisation could be shallower than inferred from initial targeting work.
Never been tested at depth before
Western Mines managing director Caedmon Marriott said the company is encouraged by the high-grade intersections.
“Rock of Ages was a walk-up target given the concentration of historical gold workings that had never been tested at depth,” he added.
This was the first program to properly test the potential of the high-grade gold mineralisation since what Western Mines has previously described as a “poor” attempt by the former Esmeralda Exploration in the 1980s.
The project lies on the Laverton Greenstone Belt, around 4.5km south of the historical Burtville Mining Centre and is surrounded by Focus Minerals’ (ASX: FML) Laverton Gold Project, with the neighbouring deposits of Burtville (206,000oz at 0.96g/t gold) and Karridale (1.19Moz at 1.33g/t gold) within a 5km radius.
The company’s flagship project and current primary focus is the Mulga Tank nickel-copper-platinum group elements (PGE) project on the under-explored Minigwal Greenstone Belt.
Western Mines holds numerous other projects across major WA mineral belts including Melita (gold), midway between Kookynie and Leonora in the heart of the WA goldfields and Jasper Hill (gold), with numerous prospective gold trends extending from the adjacent Lord Byron and Fish historical gold mines.
The company is also actively exploring Youanmi (gold), Pavarotti (Ni-Cu-PGE), Broken Hill Bore (gold) and Pinyalling (gold).