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Gateway all set to upgrade Gidgee gold resources
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A major resource upgrade is on the cards for Gateway’s Gidgee gold project following a remarkably successful drilling campaign.
The company noted that the campaign has not only uncovered new discoveries such as Evermore and Achilles but has also upgraded cornerstone deposits when combined with its previous exploration, highlighting the large-scale gold potential of the Northwest Margin.
Gateway Mining (ASX:GML) will now move to estimate maiden resources for the Evermore discovery and the Achilles prospect. Infill drilling at Evermore will expand and upgrade the resource classification along with initial metallurgical and geotechnical assessments.
Infill and extensional drilling will also be carried out at the Achilles prospect.
Other work that the company will undertake includes updating the 120,000oz inferred resource for the Montague-Boulder deposit, review and update the 120,000oz inferred resource for Whistler, and focused drilling to test a series of advanced exploration targets over the 800m strike length between the Montague-Boulder and Northeast open pits.
Gateway will also carry out ongoing evaluation and testing of high-priority targets around the margin of the Montague granodiorite.
“The past six months has been transformational for Gidgee from an exploration perspective. Our strike rate has been impressive with a substantial number of significant gold intersections returned,” managing director Mark Cossom said.
“As a result, we now have ‘cracked the code’ on the system, with a clear picture emerging of the huge potential along the Northwest Margin and a strong plan to unlock this value for our shareholders.
“The high-grade Evermore discovery has been a standout, and that will be a key focus for us in terms of resource estimation work, supported by in-fill drilling and initial metallurgical and geotechnical studies.
“The high-grade zones discovered between the Montague-Boulder and Northeast pits are equally exciting and will require further drilling.”
Gidgee project
Drilling over the past six months has delineated the Evermore discovery, which is located along strike between Montague-Boulder and Whistler deposits, and is the first discovery to be made outside of the historical mining areas around the Montague Dome.
Evermore has been drill-tested over a strike length of about 800m with a number of high-grade domains identified. The northern domain is systematically drilled on a nominal 40m by 40m spacing over a strike length of about 420m and remains open to the north where there is a significant data gap around the nose of the granodiorite to Whistler.
The company adds that the southern strike extension of Evermore has only been drilled on a nominal 80m by 100m spacing and represents a major opportunity to define additional zones of high-quality gold mineralisation.
Over at Montague-Boulder, drilling within and immediately adjacent to the existing resource has increased the data density through key areas of the deposit while drilling around the margins of the resource has identified a series of new zones of mineralisation.
Additional drilling will be designed to expand the granodiorite hosted lodes, which are considered to represent a significant growth opportunity for the Montague-Boulder Resource.
Gateway also outlined a potential continuation of mineralisation between the Montague-Boulder and Northeast open pits. Wide-spaced drilling points to considerable potential to delineate significant additional resources in the short term with additional drilling.
At Achilles, drilling has resulted in an increased understanding of the controls on mineralisation along the Northwest Margin of the Montague granodiorite that has allowed for re-examination of the nearby Achilles North oxide gold target area.
Finding a near-surface oxide deposit within the Gidgee region holds enormous strategic value and the company will carry out an initial resource estimation on the closely drilled portion of the deposit.
Additional drilling will also be carried out to test the strike extensions to the north.
This article was developed in collaboration with Gateway Mining, 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.
