At its Spur project in New South Wales, Waratah Minerals has discovered a previously unknown shallow, high-grade zone while extending the Consols gold system by 75 meters to the east and down-plunge.
Step-out hole SPD074, which returned 12.7 meters at 1.35 grams per ton (g/t) gold from 44 meters downhole, was found to be the new near-surface target. A higher-grade meter grading 13.23g/t gold from 44m and 5m at 3.24g/t gold were included in the interval.
As part of Waratah’s 80,000m growth and extensional drilling program, hole SPD074 was drilled 75m southeast of SPD019 and 100m east of SPD048. The hole showed significant vertical and lateral continuity within the Consols system and went through six distinct mineralized lodes, according to the company.
According to Waratah managing director Peter Duerden, “the Consols gold zone continues to grow, with drill hole SPD074 delivering an exceptional result… and also identifies a new previously unrecognized zone of shallow, high-grade gold mineralization from a depth of 44m downhole.”
Several wide intersections at depth, including 21m at 1.45g/t gold from 489m, 10.67m at 2.50g/t, and 23.5m at 2.12g/t from 563m, including 9.82m at 3.46g/t, accompanied the shallow result.
Waratah intersected 185m at 0.94g/t gold from 646m farther down the hole. Within this span, higher-grade parts were 20m at 2.33g/t and 7.07m at 2.67g/t. A second broad zone, comprising 18m at 1.97g/t and 3m at 6.41g/t, returned 74.9m at 0.98g/t from 845.1m.
According to Duerden, “the new shallow result provides an immediate near-surface follow-up target, which significantly expands the exploration opportunity in the eastern and down-plunge direction.”
“Follow-up drilling will focus on defining these extensions, testing the shallow zone’s continuity, and methodically expanding the larger Consols footprint.”
A continuous, 6-kilometer mineralized corridor throughout the larger Spur property was reinforced by the miner’s earlier discovery of shallow high-grade mineralization at its Alpine gold zone.
Hole ARC023 drove the RC drilling results, yielding 20m at 1.82g/t gold from 53m, including 8m at 4.38g/t from 55m, 4m at 8.44g/t from 59m, and 1m at 26.63g/t from 59m.
According to Duerden at the time, these findings supported Waratah’s claim that the Cargo Intrusive Complex’s 6 km-long margin is a high-priority gold target with room for expansion.
Waratah is currently using holes SPD090 and SPD089 to drill up-dip and down-dip of SPD074 at Consols.
Hole SPD088 revealed extended mineralization 50m north along the Tywi Fault and yielded 190m at 0.45g/t gold from 419m, including 39m at 0.89g/t. The company also reported expansions at the broader Spur zone.
While hole SPD081 expanded the mineralized envelope northward with 29.43m at 0.93g/t from 580m, hole SPD060A produced 44m at 0.73g/t from 412m, including 4m at 5.28g/t.
