Stunning high grade rock chips have set the scene for a modern drilling program at Argent’s gold rush era Trunkey Creek project. Pic: Getty Images
Argent Minerals nails down targets to drill in historic New South Wales gold field
Mining
share
- Argent Minerals finds rock chips of up to 24g/t on NSW gold rush country at Trunkey Creek
- Six high priority IP targets have been defined, ready for drilling
- Almost no modern drilling has taken place, despite the project sitting 9km from the Kempfield deposit and producing significant quantities of gold in the 19th century
Special Report: Argent Minerals is getting closer to a modern day gold discovery at its historic Trunkey Creek mineral field in New South Wales, sniffing high grade rock chips in the vicinity of over 5km of historical workings.
Old timers and prospectors have pulled 2,900oz out of the ground, 9km from Argent Minerals’ (ASX:ARD) impressive Kempfield silver deposit, with exploration and excavation dating back to the gold rush days of the early 1850s.
It has since been held by CRA, a pre-cursor to Rio Tinto (ASX:RIO), and Plutonic (now a part of gold behemoth Barrick) but only a handful of drill holes have been sunk since the small stuff became unproductive in 1908 with the last substantive work on the project in the mid-1990s.
Rock chip samples released to the market today by Argent suggest they’ve all missed a trick.
Assays as high as 24g/t have been pulled up from rock chips in the first reconnaissance sampling program by Argent.
Other samples have also reported hot gold grades like 15.1g/t, 12.6g/t, 10.45g/t and 10.35g/t.
Untested
Much like The Veronicas, a vast proportion of the Trunkey Creek field remains untouched by drilling despite gold workings on several north-north-east trending quartz veins stretching 5.5km and 500m wide.
Sub parallel main quartz reefs, a breeding ground for narrow vein gold mineralisation, have been mapped 30-50m apart over a strike length of 2km, with the distribution of shafts suggesting there are two main centres of mineralisation.
A ground IP survey has also outlined high resistivity zones over an area measuring 3.8km long and 500m wide, boasting anomalies coinciding with historical workings, none of which have been drilled.
“We are extremely pleased to have received incredibly positive geophysical/geochemical results highlighting significant gold mineralisation potential at Trunkey Creek,” Argent managing director Pedro Kastellorizos said.
“Recent high-grade gold rock chip assays in conjunction with locating the old mine workings, have highlighted the significant exploration potential over the Trunkey Creek Project area.
“The high-resolution ground IP interpretation has clearly defined extensive high resistivity zones (potential quartz veins) and chargeability zones (potential sulphides) which have excellent potential for hosting gold mineralisation.
“These targets have been defined as “stand up” and will be systematically tested by drilling. By completing this process, we have advanced the Company’s strategy by identifying priority target areas that have the potential for delineating undiscovered gold mineralisation.”
Hitting for six
Of the various targets outlined from the IP survey interpretation and 54-sample rock chip program, six high priority IP targets with ‘a good correlation to historical workings’ have been earmarked for drill testing.
While rock chips are the smoke, the assay results that come from drilling into the bedrock at a project like Trunkey Creek are the metaphorical fire.
The project is located in the heart of New South Wales’ premium exploration district, the Lachlan Fold Belt, to the south of the multi-million ounce Cadia and McPhillamys gold deposits.
Argent already boasts significant silver and gold deposits surrounding Trunkey Creek, including the 65.8Moz silver deposit Kempfield, which also contains some 125,000oz of gold, 420,000t of zinc and 200,000t lead.
Mt Dudley and Pine Ridge are also located on Argent’s tenement package, holding 29,238oz and 22,122oz in resources, respectively.
This article was developed in collaboration with Argent Minerals, 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.
