Special Report: Fresh from a $2.2m capital raising and a 1-for-60 share consolidation, Marindi Metals (ASX:MZN) is ready to hit the ground running with a maiden drill program about to begin at its flagship Forrestania gold project in WA.

Led by former Northern Star Resources (ASX:NST) chief geologist Simon Lawson, Marindi has been quietly working up a series of targets at the Kit Kat gold prospect, located within its extensive 700sqkm tenement package in the Forrestania belt.

Perhaps better known for its nickel and (more recently) large lithium discoveries, Forrestania is an often over-looked gold belt, which in the 1980s spawned the 1.2Moz Bounty gold deposit.

“In my years of working in these sorts of geological environments, I’ve never seen a more under-drilled and essentially untested piece of high-potential gold ground as we have at our Kit Kat project,” Lawson says.

“Essentially, what we have here is a structural corridor running for about 25km north-south along the lower western margin of the Forrestania gold belt.

“This corridor has acted as a permeable pathway for gold-bearing fluids, making it a highly prospective area to be looking for structurally controlled gold deposits.”

Marindi is about to kick off a 2,000m program of reverse circulation (RC) drilling this week which has been specifically designed to target a series of parallel shears that form part of this broader structural corridor.

“The structures are in close proximity to and cross-cut by two dolerite intrusive units which have been noted to be in close proximity to other high-grade deposits and mines in the region such as the 1.2Moz Bounty deposit,” the company said.

“This is the first gold-focused RC drill program to be undertaken along this highly prospective structural corridor, and we’re very excited about what the drilling could deliver,” Lawson says.

Forrestania drilling. (Supplied)

 

High-grade results at Kat Gap a sign of things to come?

Lawson says the impressive drilling results reported recently by Classic Minerals (ASX:CLZ) at its Kat Gap prospect, just 3.5km to the north, show the emerging potential of the corridor, confirming its significant gold endowment.

Last week, Classic reported high-grade gold intercepts from drilling targeting what it described as down-dip extensions of a main granite-greenstone contact gold lode where it has intersected significant gold mineralisation adjacent to a cross-cutting Proterozoic dyke.

Some of the better intercepts reported by classing including 9m grading 20.94 grams per tonne (g/t) from 123m, including 1m grading 125g/t; 8m grading 8.26g/t from 58m, including 2m grading 21.8g/t; and 13m grading 4.91g/t from 33m, including 1m grading 22.1g/t.

“We have designed our drill-holes to target several interpreted parallel shear structures running along the same structural corridor that hosts this mineralisation,” Lawson says.

“While there’s no guarantee we’re going to hit ore grade mineralisation first-up, we are certainly excited by the opportunity at this project, which we believe is a unique opportunity to explore for high-grade gold in a historically overlooked region.”

Marindi says the results of the initial drilling will also provide insights into the potential strike continuity and consistency of the 25km long corridor, of which ~10km is 100 per cent owned by Marindi.

 

New investors, refreshed capital structure

Marindi recently completed a 1-for-60 share consolidation in conjunction with a $2.6m capital raising comprising a share placement, convertible note issue and entitlement offer underwritten by Perth-based advisory firm, Forrest Capital.

In addition to introducing some new high-powered cornerstone investors, this has well and truly reset the company’s capital base.

With just 75 million shares on issue, a market capitalisation of $7.5m (at its recent 10c share price) and with over $2m in the bank, the stock is highly leveraged to exploration success.

Investors won’t have to wait long to find out.

The drill rig starts turning in the next few days, and all eyes will be on what it reveals at Kit Kat.

 

This story was developed in collaboration with Marindi Metals, a Stockhead advertiser at the time of publishing.
This story does not constitute financial product advice. You should consider obtaining independent advice before making any financial decisions.

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