Great Northern has identified a priority drilling target near its Big Rush mining lease after rock chip sampling returned anomalous gold with a top hit of 26.64g/t.
The samples were collected from the spine of a previously undrilled large arsenic anomaly – Mikes Anomaly – to the west of the Big Rush mining leases in northern Queensland.
This spine corresponds with a topographic high, similar to the mined deposits at Big Rush, and is considered by Great Northern Minerals (ASX:GNM) as being highly encouraging.
“The results from the recent rock chip sampling has identified anomalous gold results extending over approximately 400 metres of strike length and provides a key new drilling target for testing in 2021,” managing director Cameron McLean said.
“A maximum value of 26.64g/t gold from quartz-rich brecciated sandstone was returned from limited sampling highlighting the potential of this new identified drill target.
“Planning for drilling will commence and involve a site clearance survey and associated works.”
Gold potential
Big Rush is part of the company’s package of flagship assets, which also include the Golden Cup and Big Rush mines, that produced a combined +160,000oz at an average grade of 1.9g/t gold in the 90s.
These shallow, open-cut mines were all ‘in mineralisation’ when mining stopped.
While a small 77,000oz resource based on historical drilling has been defined, Great Northern believes that there is still potential for growth as none of the mines were systematically drilled at depth.
This is supported by the 10,000m of drilling it carried out in 2019-2020, which returned numerous high-grade gold hits beneath the Central and Northern Pit at Big Rush and gold hits at both Camel Creek and Golden Cup.
This article was developed in collaboration with Great Northern Minerals, 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.