When the company fired up its exploration activities late last year, it held an appealing mix of early to advanced-stage exploration and pre-development gold projects. The release of the Comstock mineral resource from historic drilling is an important step in demonstrating the hidden value in its gold asset portfolio.
Due to today’s strong gold price environment, Aureka will waste no time beginning community, scoping and regulatory approval work to maximise the opportunity the project presents.
Management instigated an initial four-hole, 1400m diamond drilling program at the site, with drilling along strike and adjacent to the historic Comstock pit. The company plans to update the resource and exploration target at the site if the program proves successful.
A 17-hole 2022 drill program produced solid results, including 1m going 13.9g/t gold within a 25.3m stretch at 1.7g/t from 157.7m, 4.6m grading 3.2g/t gold and 26.9g/t silver from 194m and a 4m slice going 2.4g/t gold and 15.9g/t silver from 165.8m.
Additionally, the 120 historic drill holes comprised 23 air-core, 70 reverse circulation and 27 diamond drill holes for a total of 13,512m. Drilling on the southern and northern edges of the Comstock pit consisted of 17 diamond holes. The spacing was designed and drilled on a nominal 50m by 50m grid. A third-party consultant completed the independent mineral resource.
The St Arnaud goldfield was mined from the mid-1850s to the early 1900s, producing about 400,000 ounces of gold at a stellar average grade of 15g/t. Gold is hosted within quartz reef systems that have developed in steeply west-dipping thrust faults proximal to a fold hinge, which is similar to mineralisation at the region’s renowned Fosterville mine.
The St Arnaud project is within the Stawell structural zone with faults to the east and west. The promising Nelson Line and New Bendigo Line gold trends run through Aureka’s project ground.
Aureka recently revealed it had potentially unearthed a new gold zone from initial drilling at the previously untested western flank of its flagship Irvine project in the gold-rich Stawell region in Victoria, about 240km west-northwest of Melbourne.
All previous mineralisation at Irvine has been discovered at the eastern flank of the Irvine Basalt zone. A mineral resource of 304,000 ounces of gold grading 2.4g/t was defined at the Resolution lode, running from shallow depths down to 400m.
A new gold discovery outside the known mineralised zone presents an opportunity for Aureka to expand the project’s size with a zealous approach to its lofty exploration target at Irvine, which is the company’s most advanced gold project.
The target comprises 3.4Mt to 5.2Mt at its Resolution and Adventure lodes for 280,000 ounces to 420,000 ounces of gold grading 2-3g/t, coupling nicely with the company’s latest St Arnaud exploration target.
Irvine’s targets remain open along strike and at depth. Previous strong gold hits include a 5m slice at 10g/t, 9.4m going 5.3g/t and a 10.8m hit running at 4.5g/t.
Irvine sits 20km from the impressive Stawell gold mine’s 5m-ounce operation.
Further follow-up exploration is planned for Irvine’s western flank, with the latest drilling highlighting the area between the Resolution and Adventure lodes as a new zone of interest.
Aureka also holds the Tandarra project, which is part of Victoria’s Bendigo gold zone, in a joint venture with ASX-listed Catalyst Metals. Catalyst owns 51 per cent of the project and manages it.
Aureka is chipping away at bolstering its Victorian gold resources, revealing the latest resource at St Arnaud and its recent western flank gold discovery at the Irvine project in Stawell. It will be interesting to see what is uncovered from the diamond drilling program underway near the Comstock pit at St Arnaud.
Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact: mattbirney@bullsnbears.com.au
