Waratah Minerals Limited (ASX: WTM) has reported significant new drilling results from its ongoing exploration at the Spur Gold-Copper Project in New South Wales, extending gold mineralisation 100 metres downdip at the Spur Zone and highlighting the growing scale of the Spur Gold Corridor.
Recent step-out drilling at the Spur Zone, part of the >1km Spur Gold Corridor, returned a standout intercept from drillhole SPRC050: 74 metres at 1.34 grams per tonne (g/t) gold from 310 metres to end-of-hole, including 50 metres at 1.56 g/t gold from 310 metres.
The hole ended in mineralisation, with the final five metres grading 2.44 g/t gold, as the RC rig reached its depth capacity.
Diamond drilling is now underway to extend both SPRC050 and SPRC053, which also ended in mineralisation.
The Spur Gold Corridor, a high-grade gold system comprising multiple zones over more than one kilometre, remains open in several directions.
Ongoing extensional RC drilling is testing down-plunge extensions at the Spur Zone and along-strike targets at the Balvenie and Consols Zones, with the potential to double the strike length of the corridor.
Waratah Minerals Managing Director Peter Duerden commented: “Waratah’s drilling activity continues to grow the scale and grade potential of the Spur Gold Corridor.
“The addition of another 100 gram-metre intercept, 100m downdip from previous drilling is a great result and highlights significant upside.
“With further assays pending and ongoing extensional drilling, Waratah is committed to fully understanding the nature and scale of the Spur epithermal system.
The RC drilling program at Spur is targeting both shallow, high-grade epithermal gold and associated porphyry gold-copper mineralisation.
To date, 66 RC drillholes totalling 15,832 metres have been completed, with five new results reported and one pending.
Encouraged by these results, Waratah has expanded the program by an additional 40 holes.
Key intercepts include:
- SPRC048: 28m @ 0.76g/t Au from 1m, including 10m @ 1.46g/t Au from 2m
- SPRC050: 74m @ 1.34g/t Au from 310m to end-of-hole, including 50m @ 1.56g/t Au and 5m @ 2.44g/t Au at the end
- SPRC056: 8m @ 0.81g/t Au from 22m
- SPRC064: 30m @ 1.57g/t Au from 252m to end-of-hole, and 24m @ 1.01g/t Au from 68m
Several holes were abandoned due to ground conditions or reaching rig depth limits, with diamond drilling planned to extend these holes and test deeper targets.
The Spur Project is located just five kilometres west of Newmont Corporation’s Cadia Valley Project and is hosted in the same Late Ordovician geology of the Molong Belt within the Lachlan Fold Belt.
The Spur Gold Corridor is defined by multiple +100 gram-metre epithermal gold intercepts along a one kilometre zone, and upcoming drilling will test for extensions that could double its strike length to two kilometres, drawing comparisons to the GRE-Dalwhinnie Deposit at the nearby Cowal gold mine.
Ongoing drilling is also targeting major strike extensions into the Consols and Balvenie prospects, where recent results indicate the system remains open.
At Breccia West, diamond drilling is underway to test a newly defined wallrock-style porphyry target, following up on historic intercepts such as 108m @ 0.52% Cu and 0.22g/t Au.
Waratah’s expanded drill program, including both RC and diamond drilling, is designed to define the scale and structural controls of gold mineralisation and to collect geochemical and alteration data to vector towards deeper porphyry targets.
Further assay results and updates from the ongoing drill campaign, including the first diamond drillhole at Breccia West, are expected next week.
