Gold prices at record highs? No better time for Torque Metals to drill its underexplored Paris gold project

As gold hits $3500/oz for the first time, Torque Metals is starting a new 6500m drill drive at its Paris gold project
Previously mined and explored to shallow depths, Torque thinks the gold camp has the potential to host multiple significant deposits across 2.5km of strike that remains open
Just 12km from the world class St Ives gold mine, Paris is an underexplored part of the 70Moz Boulder-Lefroy Fault that runs through WA’s legendary Goldfields

Special Report: As gold prices climb new highs, Torque Metals is turning its drill rigs to one of the WA Goldfields’ hidden gems in a bid to tease out a significant bounty.

Torque Metals (ASX:TOR) will sink 6500m of RC and diamond drilling into the Paris gold project in a campaign starting this week.

The drill drive will bring further clarity to the rich potential of the site which contains a strike zone of 2.5km by 1km just 12 km south east of the St Ives gold mine.

Operated by one of the world’s biggest gold miners in South African giant Gold Fields, St Ives produces close to 400,000ozpa and has been one of Australia’s biggest gold mines for well over two decades.

Despite that Paris, where deposits have been mined around Paris and HHH pits in the recent past, remains tragically underexplored – for those explorers not named Torque at least.

For Torque the opportunity lies in the exploration of a 1000km2 package in one of the world’s great gold fields where less than 5% has been subjected to drill testing, most of it no deeper than 50m below the surface. The new drilling campaign was announced this morning as gold prices crossed US$2300/oz for the first time in history, more than $3500/oz on an Australian dollar basis.

Drill hits abound

Torque has set its sights on the lithium potential of its tenement package in recent times, working on a maiden resource at its New Dawn prospect.

With an 8-14Mt exploration target at 1-1.2% Li2O, the project looms as a promising asset given its proximity (think football fields apart) to MinRes’ operating Bald Hill mine.

But with gold flying, it’s worth remembering just how fertile recent drilling has shown Torque’s Paris, Observation, HHH and Eva gold prospects to be.

They include hits from campaigns in 2022 and 2023 of:

35m at 14.12g/t gold from 157.85m including 1.2m at 185g/t gold from 174.7m, 4.44m at 20.82g/t gold from 170.3m and 2.49m at 40.6g/t gold from 167.8m (23PRCDD076).
41m at 5.93g/t gold from 188m including 3m at 25.54g/t gold from 189m and 2m at 59.35g/t gold from 204m (22PRC056).
39m at 6.05g/t gold from 175m including 9m at 10.66g/t gold from 178m and 3m at 29.4g/t gold from 202m (22PRC053).
27m at 10.7 g/t gold from 177m including 6m at 32.45g/t gold from 183m and 12m at 19.7g/t gold from 177m (22PRC040); and,
27m at 8.16g/t gold from 156m including 6m at 22g/t gold from 159m (22PRC038).

Met test work has also been promising, with 40% of the gold at Paris and Observation able to be recovered through a gravity circuit and 96.7% and 99.7% recovery respectively with conventional cyanide leach testing.

Copper occurrences also appear to pose no issue for gold recoveries at Paris and Observation, with cyanide consumption low on a kg/t basis at 0.43 and 0.165kg/t respectively.

Despite recent drilling the Paris system remains underexplored. Pic: TOR

Multiple discoveries?

Splaying under the controls of the 70Moz Boulder-Lefroy Fault, Torque believes Paris has the potential to host multiple gold deposits within a larger system along parallel structures.

The nearby St Ives gold field famously contains a bevy of major gold deposits such as Athena-Hamlet, Invincible and Victory.

Talk about elephant country. Pic: TOR

“A 6,500-metres reverse circulation (RC) and diamond drilling campaign is poised to commence this week at the Paris Gold Project potentially host to multiple deposits within a larger mineralised system, spanning approximately 2.5km by 1km remaining open in all directions,” Torque MD Cristian Moreno said.

“Torque believes that Paris possesses the attributes indicative of a tier 1 gold project, largely due to the presence of parallel structures and splays controlled by the Boulder Lefroy System.

“This conviction finds support in robust gold intercepts, exemplified by drill holes such as 23PRCDD076, yielding 35m at 14.12g/t gold from 157.85m, including intervals such as 1.2m at 185g/t gold from 174.7m, alongside other notable intersections across various drill holes.

“Metallurgical testing outcomes significantly bolster the project’s viability, with gravity and cyanide leaching recoveries achieving very strong results. Gravity concentration yields approximately 40% gold recovery for both Paris and Observation.

“Impressively, cyanide leach testing demonstrated Paris achieved a recovery rate of 96.79%, while Observation attained an even higher recovery rate of 99.7% with minimal cyanide consumption required.”

This article was developed in collaboration with Torque 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.