Astral Resources finds bedrock gold at new Spargoville project

• AAR finds bedrock gold of up to 26m at 2g/t at its new Spargoville project
• Project is next door to Mandilla and supports AAR’s multi-project gold strategy
• Assays pending for several deposits as rig moves on to Mandilla

Special Report: Astral Resources has intersected wide bedrock gold beneath the 8500N paleochannel deposit at its newly acquired Spargoville project in WA.

The 23-hole RC drill program targeted multiple high-priority areas including the Karramindie and Trapdoor–Lindsays Reward prospects, as well as follow-up drilling at the Eagles Nest and 8500N deposits.

It’s part of a 76-hole program, which is the first drilling undertaken at the project by Astral Resources (ASX:AAR) since it acquired Maximus Resources in May.

Notably, Spargoville abuts the company’s flagship Mandilla project and supports Astral’s multi-project gold strategy.

So far, broad gold intercepts at the 8500N deposit include:

• 26m at 2g/t Au from 111m in hole SGRC006 that also returned 18m at 0.8g/t from 73m and 11m at 1.19g/t from 95m;
• 20m at 1.37g/t Au from 43m and 13m at 1.24g/t in SGRC004;
• 10m at 1.43g/t Au from 54m and 7m at 0.86g/t from 178m in SGRC007; and
• 10m at 1.42g/t Au from 77m in SGRC012.

The company said this demonstrated a consistent core of gold mineralisation over a 300m strike length.

A central zone of thick, high-grade bedrock mineralisation in felsic volcaniclastic rocks below 8500N Palaeochannel mineralisation suggests there’s potential to expand the current resource beyond 500,000t at 1.3g/t for 19,000oz of contained gold.

In addition, drilling at the Karramindie prospect returned up to 1m at 8.66g/t Au from 50m and 9m at 0.91g/t from 60m.

More assays are pending from the Trapdoor-Lindsay’s Reward gold trend and Eagles Nest deposit.

Room to bulk up Mandilla resource

Back in June, Astral announced the results of a preliminary feasibility study (PFS) for Mandilla based on a standalone project comprising seven open pit mines (four from Mandilla and three from Feysville) feeding a 2.75Mtpa processing facility, producing 95,000oz per year for the first 12 years.

This study incorporated a gold price of A$4,250/oz with a Net Present Value (8% discount rate) of $1.4 billion – but notably didn’t include the Spargoville project which had only just been acquired.

That means the company has opportunity to add resources at Spargoville into an updated Mandilla PFS.

“As a first-pass program on a substantial portfolio of deposits and targets, these new assay results provide real encouragement,” managing director Marc Ducler said.

“It should be remembered that the Wattle Dam gold mine, which produced 266,000 ounces of gold at 10.6g/t, was approximately 10 metres wide by only 50 metres in strike length, indicating that very valuable deposits can be found in this area with very small mineralisation signatures.

“This initial program was designed as an initial test of several targets identified from previous work.

“The results from the fresh rock drill tests at 8500N are very encouraging and highlight the potential to add significantly to the existing shallow mineral resources currently estimated.”

Once the gold-focused exploration wrapped up last week, the rig moved on to start a 21-hole/2,500-metre drill program focused on lithium-pegmatite targets identified from a previously completed geochemical survey across the tenure encompassing the KOMIR JV.

Meanwhile, at Mandilla, infill drilling at Theia is continuing with 25 holes for 2,732 metres completed, about 25% of the 10,000-metre program, with assays pending.

This article was developed in collaboration with Astral Resources, 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.