Gold hits point to growth potential at Gateway’s Achilles target

Special Report: Gateway’s belief that the Achilles target is an emerging large-scale gold system has received further validation with step-out drilling extending mineralisation.

Wide-spaced reverse circulation drilling has extended gold mineralisation over a 700m strike length, returning wide zones such as 7m grading 2.5 grams per tonne (g/t) gold from a depth of 61m and 6m at 1.5g/t gold from 45m in the same hole.

And there’s still more to come. Gateway Mining (ASX:GML) says mineralisation at Achilles remains open for a further 200m north to the historical Caledonian Northeast pit and south of the Rosie open pit, with sporadic historical drilling indicating the presence of consistent mineralisation over a distance of more than 3.5km.

“Our initial 4,500m RC (reverse circulation) program at Gidgee continues to deliver exciting results, with the latest batch of assays demonstrating significant upside and growth potential at the previously identified Achilles target,” managing director Peter Langworthy said.

“This shallow zone of oxide mineralisation was identified last year between two historical open pits to the south of our cornerstone Montague-Boulder and Whistler deposits along the north-western margin of the Montague Dome.”

He says there is “outstanding” potential to define a coherent oxide gold deposit that could represent a lucrative source of ore feed in any future mining scenario.

“The broader Achilles target area also has all the hallmarks of forming a much larger gold mineralised system – effectively a third major centre of mineralisation along the north-western margin of the Montague Dome,” Langworthy noted.

The recent Gateway Achilles and Caledonian North RC drilling and previous drilling, with down-hole gold results Pic: Supplied

Future gold exploration activity

Gateway is currently awaiting results from the broader 305-hole aircore drill program totalling 15,015m that focused on the southern continuation of the Rosie trend south of the Rosie open pit.

The company has also mobilised a reverse circulation rig to site and started drilling. Operations are expected to continue until the Christmas break in December.

This rig will initially be used for in-fill and extensional drilling around the Montague-Boulder resource, as well as a series of systematic traverses covering the entire north-western contact of the Montague Dome between the Montague-Boulder pit and the recently reported Whistler West RC traverse.

RC drilling at Whistler West returned results including 6m at 6g/t gold from a depth of 54m on the continuation of the Boulder lode structure about 1.1km north of the Montague-Boulder pit.

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.