De Grey expands Aquila drilling after hitting visible gold for the first time

Special Report: There is no stopping the De Grey gold generation machine with shallow drilling identifying a potential large extension to the Aquila system.

Aircore and reverse circulation (RC) drilling has intersected intrusion-hosted mineralisation with visible gold noted in the first RC hole at the western end of the Aquila zone at its company-making Hemi discovery in WA’s Pilbara region.

De Grey Mining (ASX:DEG) says the new results confirm that shallow gold mineralisation extends for about 400m of strike in a new north-south direction.

Notable intersections include 16m at 3.7 grams per tonne (g/t) gold from 43m that ends in mineralisation, 16m at 2.1g/t gold from 44m and 13m at 1.8g/t gold from 71m.

The Hemi discovery now stretches about 2.5km north to south and 2km west to east with three main zones – Aquila, Brolga and Crow – defined.

Aquila itself now extends over 1.6km of potential strike and remains open for further expansion, giving it potential to increase the open pit extent at Hemi.

Technical director Andy Beckwith says the new results confirm a potential large extension to the Aquila gold system with altered intrusion noted in the first four holes drilled.

Hemi drilling location plan showing the new strike extension at De Grey’s Aquila zone Pic: Supplied

“The observation of quartz-hosted visible gold in altered intrusion early in the RC program is very encouraging,” he added.

“Visible gold has not been noted in the previous Brolga or Aquila drilling. Further drilling is planned at Aquila based on alteration and the visible gold observed to date.”

Additional aircore drilling to extend the intrusion is underway, along with a program of 16 RC holes to test mineralisation to 200m below surface along the 400m of strike potential.

De Grey is also planning to add further RC drilling to the program based on positive visual logging and final assay results.

Visible gold at De Grey’s Aquila zone Pic: Supplied

Big gold potential in the Pilbara

Since making the ground-breaking Hemi discovery in mid-December 2019, De Grey’s drilling has continued to intersect thick, often high-grade gold intervals at the Aquila and Brolga zones.

Recent drilling at Brolga returned hits like 26.9m at 1.5g/t gold from 269m and 19m at 2.7g/t gold from 203m ,including 3m at 14.7g/t gold.

Results above 5g/t gold are generally considered to be high-grade.

A recent airborne magnetic survey has also identified four new clusters, with at least 16 individual new intrusive targets within the Greater Hemi corridor.

Meanwhile, initial metallurgical test work on oxide mineralisation taken from Brolga achieved 93 per cent recoveries using an industry standard carbon in leach (CIL) circuit.

This story was developed in collaboration with De Grey Mining, 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.