Pepper gold prospect discovered just 90m south of the Never Never deposit
Drilling has turned up a huge 17.52m at 15.86g/t gold intercept
Assays are still pending and drilling continues at both Never Never and Pepper
Never Never exploration target between 1.6-1.9Moz
Special Report: Initial results from the latest round of diamond drilling at Spartan Resources’ Dalgaranga project in WA’s Murchison have uncovered a new gold prospect just 90m south of the 952,000oz Never Never gold deposit with a thick, high-grade 15.86g/t gold intercept.
Formerly Gascoyne Resources, Spartan Resources (ASX:SPR) under the stewardship of its CEO and MD Simon Lawson has been on an exploration heater at Dalgaranga after discovering the Never Never gold deposit which is just one more resource upgrade away from becoming a +1Moz gold resource.
The deposit is just a hop, step and jump from Dalgaranga’s 2.5Mt processing plant and has been a game-changing addition to the overall project for SPR to now target a 5-year-plus mine plan aimed at delivering 130,000-150,000ozpa gold.
Now, with diamond drill rigs spinning to extend the resource, SPR has intercepted high-grade gold just 90m south of the contained Never Never deposit with the same orientation and mineralisation style.
Underground discovery along-strike from Never Never
Results from deep diamond drilling just south and along-strike of SPR’s 952,000oz Never Never deposit have intercepted the new high-grade Pepper gold discovery.
The significant discovery intercept showed 17.52m at 15.86g/t gold, including 9.22m at 27.89g/t gold in hole DGRC1432-DT from 522m downhole and is positioned directly between Dalgaranga’s Never Never and Four Pillars deposits.
The long section of the Never Never deposit and Four Pillars, West Winds and emerging Pepper prospects. Pic supplied (SPR)
The high-grade gold hits come on the back of the ever-growing Never Never deposit which recently returned a thick 15.85m at 20.23g/t gold intercept from 585m down hole – giving further confidence to SPR’s 1.6-1.9Moz exploration target for the find.
Lawson says the discovery of the new high-grade Pepper gold prospect is yet another game-changer for the Dalgaranga gold project.
“The core from the discovery hole DGRC1432-DT shows the same thick, heavily-altered volcaniclastic host-rock, orientation and mineralisation style as Never Never and the gold grades are consistent across the entire intercept and of an impressive tenor, to this point only seen elsewhere at Never Never,” Lawson says.
“Importantly, the Pepper discovery sits along-strike and in the same volcaniclastic sequence as Never Never but appears to be in a separate steeply north-west plunging fold shoot of its own.
“Think of fold shoots as linear folds like those on a corrugated iron roofing sheet. The sheet represents the north-striking steeply west-dipping volcaniclastic rock package at Dalgaranga.
“East-west shears regularly cross-cut the sheet, creating corrugations or fold shoots. The troughs of the folds host steeply-plunging high-grade gold mineralisation while the ridges between host lower-grade gold mineralisation.
“The high-grade Never Never gold deposit sits in one of these large corrugation troughs and the new high-grade Pepper discovery appears to be located in an adjacent fold trough with a ridge of lower grade mineralisation in between.”
The long section of the Never Never deposit and Four Pillars, West Winds and emerging Pepper prospects. Pic supplied (SPR)
Lawson says the explorer has also drilled several follow-up holes up-dip from DGRC1432-DT which have intersected the same style of mineralisation and looks forward to the assay results.
“The Pepper gold prospect sits immediately adjacent to Never Never in an extremely favourable position given that any future exploration drill drive and/or mining access scenarios will likely come from the Gilbey’s open pit as a start point and pass right by Pepper on the way to Never Never,” Lawson says.
“The potential to add further high-grade ounces in close proximity to planned future infrastructure through discoveries like this is central to our strategy and investment proposition – and demonstrates clearly why we think there is so much more upside in what is turning out to be a truly remarkable gold system at Dalgaranga.”
Drilling continues
Surface exploration activity at Dalgaranga is ongoing with three rigs on site with a fourth AC drill rig on its way.
Two of the diamond drill rigs are currently focused on Never Never resource conversion in-fill drilling, targeting an increase in higher confidence indicated resource estimate due to be updated mid-year.
Another diamond drill rig is currently drilling at Pepper to follow up on the recent discovery, while the AC rig being mobilised will test numerous gravity/magnetic targets identified in recent geophysical surveys north of Never Never towards the previously mined Golden Wings pit.
This article was developed in collaboration with Spartan Resources, a Stockhead advertiser at the time of publishing.
This article does not constitute financial product advice. You should consider obtaining independent advice before making any financial decisions.
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