Barton drilling highlights potential high grade gold starter pit at Tunkilla

Barton’s first drilling program at the Tunkilla project has closed on a high note with high-grade gold hits highlighting the strong development potential of the 223 deposit.

The final drill results intersected broad, higher grade gold mineralisation in a roughly 50m wide zone from about 40m to 175m depth in the centre of the deposit. Top hits included 5m at 4.98 grams per tonne (g/t) gold from 68m, 17m at 4.31g/t gold from 111m, 15m at 2.28g/t gold from 139m, 13m at 3.5 g/t gold from 100m and 8m at 3.77 g/t gold from 115m.

This follows quickly on the heels of Barton’s recent announcements of not one, but two new gold zones at the 223 North and Area 191 prospects, goth located within 3km of its cornerstone 223 Deposit which already contains a 965,000oz Au JORC Resource grading 1.15 g/t gold, with about 68% of the material classified as Indicated.

Barton Gold (ASX:BGD) notes that this supports its recent October 2020 remodelling of the 223 deposit that indicates potential for a high-grade central zone of up to 500m that could be developed as a higher grade starter pit.

There is potential for growth given that the high-grade zone remains open at depth and along strike.

“These results again reinforce the success of Barton’s first drilling program at the Tunkillia gold project,” managing director Alexander Scanlon said.

“In the four months since IPO, we have validated our predictions for three key target areas and established two new gold zones with ~1.5km of new shallow, high grade mineralisation.

“With about 4km of total mineralised strike now defined in a relatively small area, Tunkillia’s project footprint is filling in nicely.

“A number of local priority targets are still to be tested, and with all gold zones open at depth and along strike we are on a clear path to build on our already large 965koz Au Mineral Resource Estimate.”

barton gold — 223 Deposit with Central High Grade Zone & New 223 North / Area 191 Gold Zones. Pic: Supplied

Long-term potential

The company adds that all Tunkillia Phase 1 drilling targets returned successful outcomes, with two new gold zones and about 1.5km of new mineralisation established near the 223 deposit.

Between the Tarcoola and Tunkillia Gold Projects, located only 70km apart, Barton has now extended its total mineralised strike by some 66% to a total 5km in the 4 months since IPO.

“The 223 deposit sits on the original ~2.5km of Tunkillia strike, so the confirmation that it could be anchored by a higher grade starter pit only increases our view of the broader project’s true long-term potential,” Scanlon added.

“This has long been overlooked, and with over $12 million cash we do not intend to slow down exploration.”

Barton’s follow up Phase 2 drilling at Tunkilla will target further extensions of new gold zones, additional discoveries at priority regional targets, and conversion to new JORC Resources.

The company will also follow up exploration at its Tarcoola project, where it had previously confirmed high grade open pit extensions, with work underway to define the highest priority drill targets.

This article was developed in collaboration with Barton Gold, 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.