Special Report: Torian will soon reveal whether it has the makings of the next big gold mine in a highly prolific WA goldfield with the initial results from a major drilling program soon to be released.

Torian Resources (ASX:TNR) recently started a 15,000m drilling campaign at its Mt Stirling gold project in Western Australia, which is in the same region as a number of advanced gold projects and producing mines.

The company has so far completed 1260m of reverse circulation drilling across 11 holes at four target areas within its Diorite East prospect.

Early indications are extremely positive, with Torian noting that mineralisation was hit in every hole and returned encouraging indicators that could point to decent gold grades.

The company previously identified three target zones at Diorite East based on historical gold-in-soil anomalies that were never followed up by previous owners, as well as other favourable geological features.

“The discovery of quartz-carbonates and sulphides pyrite, chalcopyrite and arsenopyrite that were encountered during drilling at Diorite East is very encouraging, prompting us to send those samples off to the lab immediately, so that in the event that they contain decent gold grades we can go back and continue to drill out those targets whilst the rig is still on site,” executive director Peretz Schapiro said.

“Drilling at Diorite North has been similarly encouraging thus far, with good progress being made to date.”

Torian is drilling 1600m across eight holes at the north end of the main Diorite Block.

Drilling will follow up encouraging high-grade rock chip and soil samples of up to 21 grams per tonne (g/t) gold and 5.52g/t, respectively, taken from an area adjacent to the historic Kiora and Meteor mines.

Anything over 5g/t is generally considered high-grade, but at the current high gold price even grades of as low as 1-2g/t can be economic.

Once the Diorite North drilling is completed, the focus of the program will shift to the Stirling Block in the north, where Torian will resume testing the depth and strike extent of the existing inferred resources at Mt Stirling (33,900 oz at 1.45g/t gold) and Stirling Well (16,000 oz at 2.01g/t gold).

 

Some big name neighbours

Torian’s Mt Stirling project sits in the prolific Leonora gold district in Western Australia’s Eastern Goldfields, which is host to St Barbara’s (ASX:SBM) 4.8 million oz Gwalia mine and Saracen Mineral Holdings (ASX:SAR)3.8 million oz Thunderbox mine.

The region, which has a long history of gold mining, has produced about 14 million oz of gold from mines such as Tower Hills, Sons of Gwalia, Thunderbox, Harbour Lights and Gwalia.

The Mt Stirling project is located south of Saracen’s Thunderbox, which is a key mine in the soon-to-be-merged Northern Star/Saracen Yandal production hub.

Torian’s landholding also borders Red 5’s (ASX:RED) King of the Hills (KOTH) gold project, a former Sons of Gwalia asset near Leonora, which is closing in on production following the release of a final feasibility study in September.

KOTH previously produced 1 million oz of gold and is estimated to host a further 4.1 million oz in resources and 2.4 million oz in reserves.

 

Torian’s Mt Stirling project. Pic: Supplied

“With almost 13 million oz in resources located within the immediate neighbourhood of our Mt Stirling gold project — including Red 5’s King of the Hills mine, St Barbara’s Gwalia mine and Saracen’s Thunderbox mine — we are confident that this region is a great location to be pursuing new major discoveries,” Schapiro said.

“We look forward to keeping the market updated on our progress.”

 

Shaping up as a large gold system

Phase one drilling completed on the Stirling Block earlier this year demonstrated that the project is emerging as a potentially large gold system, with results confirming that mineralisation continues more than 100m below previous drilling and extends over 1km in strike length.

The Diorite Block has been subject to minimal modern exploration but hosted high-grade gold production at Diorite King and the Diorite Queen mine around the turn of the 20th century.

According to online mining database mindat.org, Diorite King produced 2,917oz of gold at an average grade of 73g/t from 1897 to 1922. Several other small mines in the area also produced at high grades.

Earlier in October, Torian struck a deal to expand its Diorite Block. It secured an option to acquire four tenements surrounding the block that also includes one already granted mining lease.

The new tenements contain historical high‐grade historical production of up to 563.01g/t at the Little Wonder mine and 201.55g/t at the Kenelworth mine.

The new tenements, which will be included in the current drilling program, are located within 2km to the south of the historic Diorite King mine.

Investor interest in Torian has been steadily growing in recent months, with shares now up 525 per cent since the COVID-induced market bottom in March.

 

 

This article was developed in collaboration with Torian Resources, 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.