Ongoing extensional drilling by Black Cat has increased the strike length of known mineralisation at its Paulsens Gold Operation by about 100m, building confidence as it closes in on a possible return to gold production from the high-grade mine.

Drilling testing the continuity and extensions to the gabbro veins resources at Paulsens continues to intersect multiple high-grade mineralised lodes with significant intercepts such as 0.97m grading 10.10 grams per tonne (g/t) gold from 34.6m and 0.89m at 17.4g/t gold from 204.64m in hole PGEX23004.

The hits are being returned from both the lower and upper areas of the mine, returning assays such as 3.64m at 2.64g/t gold from 230m (PGRD23087 – Upper Mine) and 1.49m at 19.19g/t gold from 86.6m (PGRD23131 – Lower Mine).

Results such as these will undoubtedly feed into (and provide encouragement) for the study to support a potential decision by Black Cat Syndicate (ASX:BC8) to restart mining at the Paulsens Gold Operations. The study is due for release in the coming weeks.

Selective mining methods are planned to optimise extraction of both the main zone and the gabbro veins resources at Paulsens.

“We continue to have a high rate of success in intersecting the mineralised gabbro veins through our extensional drilling,” managing director Gareth Solly said.

“These recent results from outside the current Resource highlight the underground growth potential which will be factored into future Resource updates.

“The restart study is well advanced and we expect it to put us in a strong position to re-commence operations at Paulsens.”

Paulsens Gold Operations

The previously producing Paulsens project currently has an underground resource of 332,000oz grading 10.1g/t gold, the majority of which is contained within the gabbro veins (133,000oz at 9.2g/t gold) and the main zone (154,000oz at 10.7g/t gold).

This makes Paulsens one of the highest grade deposits in Australia which will be a big factor in the economics of the potential restart currently being assessed.

This decision will also be aided by a lower capital hurdle thanks to the presence of critical infrastructure – including a well maintained 450,000tpa mill – that have been kept on care and maintenance since 2018.

There is also plenty of potential for resource growth.

Besides extensions to the gabbro veins, there is also significant open pit/underground potential at Belvedere located just 5km from the processing plant and with a shallow resource of 30,000oz grading 3.9g/t gold identified from minimal drilling.

 

 

 

This article was developed in collaboration with Black Cat Syndicate, 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.

Read MoreGoldGold NewsGold Stocks

Featured Companies

You might be interested in