Cosmo Metals is looking to strike gold with drilling at the Kanowna gold project. Pic: Getty Images
Cosmo testing gold targets with drilling at Kanowna
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- Initial RC drilling at Kanowna will test gold and pathfinder anomalies at the WKL and Dugite targets
- Cosmo will then carry out aircore drilling to extend and infill historical drilling that returned up to 18m at 5.3g/t gold
- A further 1000m of RC drilling will then be carried out to follow up mineralisation and anomalies defined by the two earlier phases of drilling
Special Report: Cosmo Metals has started drilling at its Kanowna Gold Project (KGP) in WA’s Eastern Goldfields region to test intriguing gold targets as well as extend and infill historical drilling.
The +26km² KGP sits about 13km from Kalgoorlie and is immediately adjacent to Northern Star’s (ASX:NST) Kanowna Belle mine that has produced +5.4Moz of the precious metal since 1993.
While limited, historical drilling at KGP has delivered compelling near-surface results such as 44m grading 2.4g/t gold from a down-hole depth of 24m including 18m at 5.3g/t gold and 50m at 1.2g/t gold from 30m to end of hole, including 10m at 4.7g/t gold from 32m.
Cosmo Metals’ (ASX:CMO) review of these results indicated that the Don Álvaro and Laguna Verde prospects certainly require follow-up.
Adding to the project’s prospectivity, NST made the Velvet and Joplin discoveries, which are both deeper than 400m below surface, between the Kanowna Belle mine and the KGP.
Separately, the company has identified a broad 1.5km by 600m aircore anomaly where shallow drilling to a 20-50m depth intersected supergene gold over a large area which has not seen any deeper drilling.
Testing “compelling” targets
With the receipt of heritage clearances, CMO has started an initial 1000m reverse circulation drill program to test historical gold and pathfinder anomalies at the WKL and Dugite targets in the southeast of the KGP.
It will then mobilise an aircore rig to drill grids of shallow (50-60m deep) holes to extend and infill the existing historical coverage with a focus on the Kanowna Shear Zone (KSZ), a regionally important structure controlling the distribution of gold mineralisation in the KGP.
Once this is completed, the company will drill a further 1000m of RC holes to follow up mineralisation and anomalies defined by the AC and first phase RC programs.
This campaign is intended to define new areas of gold mineralisation at known prospects and define vectors to previously unrecognised gold mineralisation associated with the KSZ.
“The rig will be testing gold and pathfinder anomalies defined by historical drilling as well as positions along the Kanowna Shear Zone (KSZ), considered to be a primary control on mineralisation in the area,” Managing Director James Merrillees said.
“This will be the first ever drilling greater than 150m depth at WKL and Dugite with only one RC hole previously drilled into a more than 4km length of this major shear position.
“Cosmo’s RC program has been broken into two phases with a pause for aircore drilling to extend and infill the historical coverage along the KSZ, before the RC rig returns to test additional targets along trend and any targets defined by the aircore program.
“All programs are expected to take 4-6 weeks to complete, and I look forward to updating our shareholders as drill results come to hand”.
This article was developed in collaboration with Cosmo Metals, 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.
