Special Report: The first stage of drilling at Essential Metals’ Juglah Dome gold project near Kalgoorlie will kick off today, with a previously announced program extended to cover additional prospective targets.

The first-stage drill program was initially designed to test the Gards, Golden Shovel and Moonbaker prospects at Juglah Dome, but has since been expanded to include both the Dwyer prospect, and additional holes at Golden Shovel, following an oversubscribed share placement which raised $2 million.

At the Dwyer prospect, Essential Metals (ASX:ESS) intends to drill two holes to test bedrock mineralisation, with further holes to be added as and when required.

The prospect sits along strike from the Trojan gold mine recently acquired by Black Cat Syndicate (ASX:BC8), and previous drilling in the area has returned results of 4m at 0.51 grams per tonne gold from 38m; and 13m at 0.66g/t gold from 30m, including 2m at 2.22g/t gold.

The fourth prospect joins three previously defined by Essential, which are described by the company as follows:

 

  • Gards: A standout drill target confirmed with 1.2km of outcrop/sub-crop mapped.

 

  • Golden Shovel: The site of multiple historical workings which is geologically similar to the Gard prospect.

 

  • Moonbaker: Widespread sporadic gold anomalism identified by extensive soil sampling.

 

Three additional holes have been added to the initial plans for Golden Shovel prospect to test for parallel mineralised porphyries.

Essential Metals Managing Director Tim Spencer said getting exploration underway at Juglah Dome marked an exciting milestone for the company.

“This drill program will test the first four high-priority targets at Juglah Dome,” he said.

“The additional funds raised in our recent oversubscribed $2 million placement allow us to expand the drilling program to include the Dwyer prospect, more holes at Golden Shovel, as well as the capacity to undertake additional holes where warranted as drilling progresses.

“Besides testing for gold mineralisation, the program will also provide valuable information about the geological setting of the greater project area to assist in identifying further targets.”

The RC drill program is expected to take three weeks to complete, with samples to be submitted prior to the upcoming Christmas season.

Assays are expected to return towards the end of January 2021 on the back of high laboratory demand and anticipated longer turnarounds over the Christmas-New Year period.

 

A prime prospect

Located around 60km east-south-east of Kalgoorlie, the Juglah Dome project is said to be highly prospective for gold mineralisation.

Exploration by previous owners on the project has identified multiple gold targets using soil geochemistry and drilling.

The project lies in a similar geological setting to those that host Black Cat Syndicate’s Majestic and Imperial deposits 10km to the northwest, and the Daisy complex to the west – part of Silver Lake Resources’ Mt Monger operations.

 

Essential Metals
Juglah Dome sits in good company. Pic: Company supplied.

 

 

This article was developed in collaboration with Essential 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.

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