Austin Metals reveals Murchison gold targets next to hits that made neighbour Caprice soar

Austin Metals outlines two new gold targets at its flagship project of the same name
The targets is controlled by the same mineralisation as Caprice Resources’ Island project
Caprice more than doubled in value following hits of up to 34.9g/t gold

With major gold miners like Ramelius Resources (ASX:RMS) and Westgold Resources (ASX:WGX) demonstrating the incredible riches on offer in the Murchison, investors’ focus is now poised to turn to who has the ground to make the next major gold discovery in the multi-million ounce gold district.

As prices peak at new record highs of US$2985/oz, a new contender is emerging in the shape of Austin Metals (ASX:AYT).

The junior has revealed the discovery of numerous prospective gold targets at its self-named project near Cue, following the analysis of historical soil geochemical and geophysical surveys.

The targets identified are along strike and 3.5km to the south-east of Caprice Resources (ASX:CRS) Island project, which recently returned mind-blowing gold results of up to 34.9g/t gold and a meaty intersection of 28m at 6.4g/t from 114m during Phase 1 RC drilling.

Those hits saw the company’s share price climb 250%, trading some $15m of stock in February. For a company that was valued under $10m at the time of the intercept that was no small feat.

Austin will be hopeful of repeating that sort of market response if it finds something similar near Cue, an historic WA gold town surrounded by processing infrastructure, with its targets occurring in association with the same northwest-southeast trending shear zone and BIF-dominant lithological sequence as the Island mineralisation.

Well-endowed gold region

Austin Metals’ (ASX:AYT) new targets are located on a 175km2 land package in the Murchison goldfields, not far from several operating gold mines like Ramelius Resources’ (ASX:RMS) Mt Magnet operations and the recently acquired Break of Day deposit as well as Westgold Resources’ (ASX:WGX) Tuckabianna plant.

Interpretation of historical soil sampling shows two additional target areas characterised by extensive anomalism (>10ppb Au) with over 0.8km and 1.3km of strike length respectively.

The targets are situated at the intersection of the same northwest to southwest trending shear zones and mapped BIF units that control the high-grade mineralisation at the Island project.

This structural zone encompasses the broader Mt Sandy prospect area, where recent drilling by AYT intersected high-grade gold mineralisation such as 8m at 2.7g/t gold from 56m, including 2m at 10.3gt gold from 62m.

Gold push timed to perfection

AYT’s definition of gold targets comes as prices of the precious metal surged over 1% to a fresh record high of more than US$2980/oz on Thursday as sliding US inflation fuelled hopes of more US Fed rate cuts, and as trade tensions give rise to safe haven buying.

Bullion has dominated the investment landscape this year, with bets of US$3000/oz from analysts and bank economists becoming commonplace as global geopolitical uncertainty showed no signs of abating in the context of a Trump presidency in the USA.

Some analysts have been even more bullish, with Victor Smorgon Group’s Cameron Judd suggesting US$3600/oz could be on the cards.

Higher commodity prices mean good things for junior explorers –the positive market environment provides companies with greater potential to raise funds and get the drill bit spinning.

AYT says its results provide a clear focus for the company in the short term.

It now plans to carry out follow-up work including additional soil sampling as well as a mix of aircore and RC drilling.

Further drilling will be also conducted to test the results at Mt Sandy and Brunswick Hill, with a target start date around late March.

The nearby Break of Day story is instructive of how valuable a discovery in this part of the world is.

It led to Musgrave Minerals’ more than $200m sale to Ramelius a couple years ago and the high grade deposit has been the main contributor to the outperformance seen at its Mt Magnet operations.

A recent life of mine update showed grades and production sources are on the decline for Ramelius in the years ahead, meaning the $2.5bn miner will no doubt be sniffing out any high grade ore it can get its hands on in the highly competitive gold district.