The Konik discovery is in an area that has not be historically drill tested. Pic: via Getty Images.
How big is this thing? Surging Strickland unearths another thick, shallow gold discovery at Horse Well
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- The undrilled, near-surface Konik trend at Horse Well returned 58m at 1.7g/t gold
- 50,000m AC drilling program has already flagged multiple high-grade discoveries
- Closer spaced aircore drilling and RC drilling of new trend planned
- Strickland is cashed-up via the sale of the Millrose deposit to Northern Star for $61m
Strickland Metals has flagged another new gold discovery at its Horse Well prospect at the Yandal gold project, intersecting 58m at 1.7gt at the newly identified Konik trend.
Since June 2021, Strickland Metals (ASX:STK) has executed a series of acquisitions to consolidate the entire NE flank of the prolific Yandal Greenstone belt in WA’s Goldfields region, about 50kms north of Northern Star’s (ASX:NST) underground Jundee operation.
The project includes the 148,000oz Horse Well prospect, which, despite significant historical drilling, is very poorly understood due to haphazard, patchy exploration work in the past.
In its aim to systemically explore for gold in new areas, the company kicked off a major 40,000m aircore drilling program at Yandal in early August.
This was quickly upgraded to 50,000m after the Marwari discovery was extended to 500m, thick, high-grade gold was unearthed at neighbouring Palomino, and a 3km long undrilled target called Pegasus was identified last week.
The ~$120m capped company – cashed-up via the sale of the Millrose deposit to Northern Star for $61m — has surged +70% on this exploration success to its highest point since mid 2022.
Another ‘fantastic’ discovery at Konik
Now the company has flagged a wide, near surface gold result of 4m at 1.7g/t Au from 2m, and 58m at 1.7g.t Au from 17m (including 10m at 4.2g/t Au) at Konik, an area that has not been historically drill tested.
This hit went to the bottom of hole (BOH), which means the gold likely keeps going at depth.
“Our ongoing aircore program has delivered another fantastic discovery at the newly identified Konik trend, HWAC1488: 58m at 1.7g/t Au from 17m (to BOH), including 10m at 4.2g/t Au,” CEO Andrew Bray said.
“The discovery highlights how fertile the Horse Well prospect area is, and also the area’s potential to deliver additional gold mineralisation with strong grades and over large widths.
“Given we’re a little over halfway through the aircore program, it is an incredible result to have thus far delivered two new discoveries at Konik and Marwari (HWAC1472: 31m at 5.6g/t Au), as well as identifying a large, undrilled prospective corridor to the north-west at Pegasus, which appears to be the extension of Marwari.
“Most pleasing about HWAC1488 is its proximity to surface.”
Notably, the new Konik trend has not been identified or drilled by past explorers, with three historical holes drilled parallel to the shear structure – meaning the holes missed the target.
Two additional holes drilled by Strickland 200m to the south-east of the discovery hole have intersected similar alteration and veining to HWAC1488, suggesting continuation of the mineralised structure (assays pending).
More AC and RC drilling planned
The company says the Konik shear zone can be traced in geophysical datasets extending 600m to the south and plans closer spaced aircore drilling to map the shear structure ahead of RC drilling.
“The aircore rig has arrived at the Pegasus target and will shortly commence drilling a number of aircore fence lines to map the geology and test for extensions to the Marwari discovery,” Bray said.
“After completing the fence lines at Pegasus, the rig will move to Konik and complete four short fence lines before moving back to continue the southern extensional drilling of the Marwari structure.
“These aircore fence lines should accurately map the mineralising structures in preparation for substantial follow up RC drilling.”
Additionally, there are still large parts of the Horse Well prospect area away from these discoveries that the company plans to continue systematically testing, with significant potential remaining for additional discoveries.
“An RC rig will arrive towards the end of the month to assist with an expanded drill program leading into Christmas,” Bray said.
In the meantime, Strickland is awaiting assays from drilling south of the Marwari discovery hole, which are expected within the fortnight.
This article was developed in collaboration with Strickland 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.
