Manhattan Corp (ASX:MHC) is celebrating a high-grade gold discovery at the newly acquired (but very old) Tibooburra project in NSW.

Old time prospectors pulled about 60,000oz of gold out of this project area between 1881 and 1901.

And despite historical mining grades of +20 grams per tonne (g/t), the primary ore systems had rarely been tested below the water table (about 60m), Manhattan said.

Drilling has now discovered a new shallow high-grade gold lode outside the known mineralisation at the New Bendigo prospect.

The highlight intercept was 7m at 18.16g/t gold, about ~250m west of the New Bendigo Zone which “requires immediate follow-up”, the company says.

The stock was up +50 per cent to multi-year highs in morning trade.

“These initial results, particularly the new shallow western zone at New Bendigo, confirm our belief that the prospect area is growing and holds great potential for further high-grade gold discoveries requiring immediate follow up drilling,” Manhattan chief exec Kell Nielsen says.

“Further these recent drill results confirm the Tibooburra gold project is most certainly an emerging high-grade gold district where this maiden small program has only scratched the surface.

“MHC has a tenement holding covering 160-strike-kilometers of gold anomalous structures which are similar in age and tectonic features to the Victorian Goldfields and similarly could hold potential for multi-million-ounce orogenic gold discoveries.”

 

Ardea Resources (ASX:ARL) is up ~15 per cent on some notable results from ‘first pass’ drilling over a new gold target at its Goongarrie nickel-cobalt project (GNCP) in WA.

Significant gold anomalism (low grade) was hit over 2.4km at ‘Goon South’ in the weathered profile beneath thick transported lake cover.

Highlights include 6m at 1.83g/t from 118m, and 5m at 3.91g/t from just 42m.

These tenements were historically explored for near-surface nickel-cobalt mineralisation and have received minimal exploration for gold, Ardea boss Andrew Penkethman says.

“With known major gold controlling structures passing through Ardea’s tenements, the exploration team have been asked to increase their focus on gold exploration to help define the full potential of Ardea’s projects,” he says.

“Though at a very early stage, these results from the newly identified Goongarrie South target area suggest strong gold anomalism over an extensive area that has never been systematically explored before this program.”

READ: Battery metals play Ardea just made a very interesting gold discovery near Goongarrie

 

South Africa’s Department of Mineral Resources has notified West Wits Mining (ASX:WWI) of its intention to approve the company’s Environmental Authorisation application for the 3.65 million-ounce Witwatersrand Basin project (WBP).

“The DMR’s notification on West Wits EA approval is a positive step towards the granting of the mining right over WBP,” managing director Jac van Heerden says.

“The West Wits team will continue their engagement with the DMR to expedite the mining right approval.”

Work on a project scoping study and exploration activities to convert an exploration target into a JORC-compliant resource is progressing well and is expected to be completed in July 2020 and September 2020, respectively.

The stock was up 33 per cent in morning trade.

 

And surging junior Metalicity (ASX:MCT) has hit more near-surface high-grade gold at its flagship Kookynie project in WA.

The first 11 holes of a 44-hole program have confirmed significant and extensive high-grade, near-surface gold at the Leipold prospect.

Highlights include 4m at 16.3g/t from 42m, and 9m at 5.7g/t from 35m.

“Of the 11 drill holes that we have received our assays results for, 10 out of 11 returned a significant intercept,” Metalicity managing director Jason Livingstone says.

“We still have 33 holes remaining where we have not received the assays for yet.”

The stock — up ~80 per cent to 2.5c per share by midday EST — has now gained +1000 per cent over the past three months.