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ASX Resources Top 5: Are gold explorers back in the spotlight?
Mining
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- Lefroy hits visible gold in follow-up drilling at ‘Burns’ gold-copper discovery
- West Wits says gold mining approval decision imminent
- OzAurum (gold), Aston (gold) and Podium (platinum, palladium) up on no news
Here are the biggest small cap resources movers in morning trade, Friday March 26.
Discovery confirmed?
Drilling has successfully extended the porphyry at the ‘Burns’ project, where Lefroy hit an incredible 60m at 5.22g/t gold and 0.38% copper in hole LEFR260 in February.
Six RC ‘pre collars’ have been completed in preparation for a deeper diamond drill program to evaluate the ‘Eastern Porphyry’ at Burn.
Pre collaring: a RC drill rig (which breaks the rock up into chips) drills through the overburden until it reaches the bedrock, where a diamond rig is brought in to ‘core’ to the end of the hole.
Coring keeps the rock together and looks like this:
Lefroy says each pre collar hole intersected the Eastern Porphyry on five consecutive 40m spaced east west sections.
“Hole LEFR283, located 40m north of LEFR260, intersected 18m of magnetite-sulphide altered porphyry to end of hole, including a 2m interval from 127m containing multiple specks of visible gold in drill chips,” it says.
The Eastern Porphyry remains open to the north and its eastern limit is unknown, Lefroy says.
Assay results for the pre collars are expected in mid-April.
The stock is now up 378% year to date.
West Wits, and its shareholders, has been waiting for key ministerial approvals to start construction on its 4.37moz, 60,000oz per year Witwatersrand Basin Project in south Africa.
This was originally due around October last year but there is light at the end of the tunnel, West Wits says.
“The advice received indicates that this matter is now receiving urgent attention at the Ministerial level,” West Wits chairman Michael Quinert says.
“Having reviewed the recommendations on 16 March and requested further detail on one discreet issue it is apparent that all relevant material is now before the decision maker.
“It is therefore reasonable to expect there should be no further undue delays and a decision will be made in a matter of days.
“Failing that, the Company is ready to initiate formal legal proceedings to compel the decision.”
Shots. Fired.
(Up on no news)
The explorer listed on the ASX in February.
On March 15 it announced shallow and high grade gold hits from early stage drilling at ‘Mulgabbie North’ in WA.
Highlights included 4m at 6.3g/t from 48m to end of hole.
These first 31 holes are just the beginning of OzAurum’s initial 30,000m AC drilling campaign, it says.
“The company is excited that we have intersected these high-grade AC intercepts so early on in our large-scale drilling campaign,” chief exec Andrew Pumphrey says.
“This new zone of gold mineralisation discovered by aircore drilling is situated 100m west of our current RC drilling at Mulgabbie North.
“This area is under transported cover that has prevented previous effective exploration, and now represents a significant exploration opportunity for the company.”
(Up on no news)
Earlier this week Podium hit high grade platinum, palladium and copper at ‘Parks Reef’ in WA.
“These latest results in Parks Reef represent the most significant intersections achieved to date in terms of both thickness and grade, and which will be included in modelling for the next upgrade of the already substantial resource base of 1.4 million ounces of 3E PGM,” exec chairman Clayton Dodd says.
“The holes will now be analysed for high value rhodium and base metals.”
Platinum sells for about $US1,150/oz, which is chump change next to palladium ($US2,400/oz) and rhodium ($US25,500/oz).
(Up on no news)
Aston soared earlier this month after hitting visible gold in drilling at the Edleston project in Canada, where +$10.8m had already been spent on drilling and geophysics by previous owners.
These aforementioned explorers hit grades like 5.3m at 81.39g/t gold, 110m from surface, but could never put it all together.
Aston is hoping to find what they missed. The ~$50m market cap stock is now up ~165% per cent over the past month.
