Koonenberry is looking for paydirt at its own Bellagio property. Pic via Getty Images.
‘Higher gold grades, widths and continuity’: Koonenberry is about to delve deeper into the Bellagio discovery
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- First-pass drilling defines widespread gold mineralisation at Bellagio up to 4.47g/t Au
- Majority gold hits occur towards bottom of hole, indicating there is more gold at depth
- Follow up AC drilling to test fresh rock underneath the weathered zone
Special Report: Deeper AC drilling to test fresh rock is about to commence at Koonenberry Gold’s Bellagio prospect, where it has identified a potential gold system from first-pass exploration activities.
With 2,060km2 of tenure within the Koonenberry Belt – an emerging exploration district in northwest NSW with enormous gold and copper potential – Koonenberry Gold (ASX:KNB) is on the hunt for orogenic gold systems where it believes is an extension of Victoria’s +5Moz Au Stawell Zone.
Recent exploration, including rock chip sampling and first-pass drilling, has already identified sufficient geological evidence that indicates there’s potential for gold bounty.
First-pass drilling defined widespread gold mineralisation over a broad 250m x 300m zone which remains open in all directions.
One of the best intersections from AC drilling at Bellagio showed 10m @ 1.61g/t gold from 18m, including 1m @ 4.47g/t Au from 24m.
Is there paydirt deeper down?
Significantly, the majority of anomalous gold results occurred towards the bottom of hole with strong evidence of gold leaching and supergene depletion in the highly weathered zone.
Company geologists believe that weathering processes may be underrepresenting results in the upper saprolite and that mineralisation may be significantly better deeper in the fresh rock.
The AC drill campaign will target that fresh rock, which sits below the base of oxidation and, in similar environments, can host higher grades, widths and continuity of mineralisation than in the highly weathered zone.
Follow-up AC drilling is planned to commence shortly and aims to drill test the fresh rock underneath an extensive >200m zone of highly anomalous gold mineralisation encountered in the weathered zone.
In addition to the deeper drilling, work will further assess the size potential of the system, with holes planned both along strike and laterally.
KNB says that while the full 20km length of the controlling Royal Oak Fault will not be assessed, optimal drilling parameters will be better understood after this program for future drill testing along the structure.
KNB MD Dan Power says the company is very excited about the discovery opportunity at Bellagio and has fast tracked a follow-up drilling program that will commence in the next few days.
“Results from the initial drill program showed consistent evidence of supergene gold depletion in the highly weathered zone, and we think better gold grades, widths and continuity may be encountered at depth,” he says.
“This follow up program will be high impact and is designed to test the fresh rock potential underneath broad zones of gold mineralisation defined by our initial drill program.”
This article was developed in collaboration with Koonenberry Gold, 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.
