Artemis Resources can get cracking on digging up its 4500-tonne bulk conglomerate gold sample in the Pilbara now that it has secured two key exploration licences.

The new licences host the 47 Patch gold find, which has been chosen as the preferred site to conduct Artemis’s first large bulk sampling program of gold-bearing conglomerates.

“Artemis plans to start this bulk sampling and processing project as soon as practically possible,” Artemis executive chairman David Lenigas told investors.

“This is a priority project for Artemis.”

Artemis and Canadian partner Novo Resources are responsible for kicking off the Pilbara gold rush in July last year, when they revealed they had found gold nuggets at their Purdy’s Reward joint venture south of Karratha.

Closing the gap

These two new licences are not part of the pair’s joint venture, but they do close the gap between Artemis’s and Novo’s respective landholdings.

“These tenements fill in the missing, but highly important key-hole between Novo’s Comet Well project and Artemis’s assets around Radio Hill and Whundo,” Mr Lenigas said.

“These tenements cover the immediate westerly extension of Comet Well, where Artemis witnessed local prospectors recover gold nuggets from surface with metal detectors.”

The bulk samples will be processed through Artemis’s Radio Hill plant, which has been permitted to process an initial 4500 tonnes.

Artemis is not stopping there though and will request the tonnage be raised to process 50,000 tonnes by the end of June.

The company is not wasting any time in its quest to unlock the mystery of the nuggety gold phenomenon that is sweeping the West Pilbara.

Artemis shares over the past six months. (ASX:ARV)
Artemis shares over the past six months. (ASX:ARV)

A program of works will be lodged today with the West Australian government to begin a detailed trenching, pitting, and drilling program.

Artemis will also be submitting an application today for excess tonnage bulk samples up to 20,000 tonnes.

Executive director Ed Mead told Stockhead recently that getting a resource for nuggety gold is much like getting a resource for diamonds.

“Clearly you can do it on diamonds and the theory behind all of this is very similar to diamond exploration,” he said.

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