Highlights
- RC drilling at the Big Sky Deposit has again delivered strong near surface gold results in both infill and extensional drilling
- New zones of mineralisation intersected outside the current Mineral Resource boundary during extensional drilling
- RC drilling has re-started at Amarillo and Waratah and will then go on to test new regional targets
- The company aims at increasing the resource base and de-risk the near-surface gold mineralisation (amenable to open pit mining) at Big Sky through this drilling
Musgrave Minerals Limited (ASX:MGV) shares are up 2% to AU$0.245 after the gold and base metal explorer and project developer announced further strong assay results from reverse circulation (RC) drilling at the Big Sky deposit SW of Lena and Break of Day, at its flagship Cue Gold Project.
The results are from a mix of infill and extensional drilling and draw attention to the near-surface nature of the gold mineralisation along the Big Sky deposit. The results mark the final assay results from the existing stage of a drill program focused on infilling and upgrading key sections of the Big Sky deposit.
Image: © 2022, Kalkine Media®
The below image depicts the regional plan showing drill hole collars and significant prospect locations.
Drill hole collars and significant prospect locations, Cue Gold Project (Source: Company update dated 21 November 2022)
Big Sky Deposit – infill and extensional results
The total Mineral Resource Estimate of the Cue Project is 12.3kt @ 2.3g/t Au for 927koz contained gold, 47% of which falls in the higher confidence Indicated Resource category. The Big Sky deposit is a subset of this resource and has 4.65Mt @ 1.2g/t Au for 173koz contained gold and has been as of now modelled to a maximum depth of 150m remaining open, per the Company.
Upon further RC drilling (infill and extensional) at Big Sky, significant gold mineralisation continues to intersect below thin transported hardpan cover (~1-6m thick). This recent drilling (across 54 holes for a total of 2,708m) establishes and increases the near-surface gold endowment along the Big Sky trend.
Image: © 2022, Kalkine Media®, data: Company update dated 21 November 2022, image: © Awcnz62 | Megapixl.com
Important, further mineralisation was identified outside the current Mineral Resource boundary too, although this drilling is still not included into the resource estimate. Significant new RC drill hole assay results outside the current Mineral Resource Estimate boundary include:
Image: © 2022, Kalkine Media®, data: Company update dated 21 November 2022, image: © Edbockstock | Megapixl.com
All these results will continue to de-risk the deposit’s open cut potential, says the Company.
New regional targets
A limited, tightly defined RC drilling program was conducted to follow-up anomalous AC drill results from regional targeting.
Following which anomalous gold was identified within the weathered regolith of a differentiated dolerite at the Western Dolerite target, with the best intersections being 6m @ 3.7g/t Au from 75m (22MORC148), including 1m @ 11.9g/t Au from 79m.
Cue project gold - ongoing activities (wholly owned Musgrave tenements)
- For the Cue Gold Project, Stage 1 PFS activities are continuing as expected with completion expected Q1 2023. The study will revolve around the current Indicated Mineral Resources while continuing exploration and resource-conversion drilling in order to stretch the mine life beyond Stage 1.
- Diamond drilling for geotechnical analysis to better define pit wall stability is underway at Big Sky prospects, White Heat and sthe Break of Day.
- The Company has commenced follow-up RC drilling at the Waratah, Amarillo, and East Numbers targets. At the Big Sky and White Heat-Mosaic deposits, metallurgical test work is underway with preliminary gold recovery data slated to roll out in .
MGV shares were trading flat at AU$0.240, on 21 November 2022 (as at AEDT 03:42PM).