Special Report: The historic, high grade Jubilee gold project – acquired by Navarre Minerals (ASX:NML) in June 2020 is about to be drilled for the first time since the mine closed in 1913.

Victorian gold explorer Navarre has kicked off a maiden air-core drilling program as a precursor to potential diamond core testing at its Jubilee project near Ballarat in Victoria.

The project includes the historic, 619m deep Jubilee gold mine, which produced about 130,000oz at a recovered grade of ~12g/t between 1887 and 1913.

This gold came from a single east-west trending quartz reef, believed to be in a similar structural setting to the 2.5moz Swan-Eagle orebody in Fosterville and the 1.8moz Tasmania Reef in Beaconsfield, Tasmania.  All of these orebodies are hosted in gold-bearing quartz- veins occupying old fault structures that cross-cut a package of sedimentary rocks.

But there has been no significant exploration and no drilling since the mine closed.

Navarre’s 3,000m drilling program will test three shallow geophysical target areas thought to be potential repetitions and extensions of the Jubilee quartz reef.

The historic Jubilee main lode (red) and three target areas for drilling.

Navarre managing director Ian Holland says the Jubilee project has a lot of potential.

“The Jubilee Mine has seen no real exploration in more than a century, despite having a history of yielding high-grade gold from a single transverse quartz reef structure,” he says.

“This project has the potential to deliver a significant gold discovery, all just 25 kilometres from an operating mine with significant processing capacity.”

This drilling is part of a 12,000m campaign to test Navarre’s regional targets.

 

Building a maiden resource at Resolution

The regional drilling program adds to a 12,000m resource definition drilling program underway at the company’s flagship Resolution Lode, on the Irvine basalt dome.

The drilling program is intended to scope out the depth and strike potential of the Resolution Lode discovery with the aim of delivering a maiden mineral resource by the end of the March quarter 2021.

This drilling has already delivered strong, consistent gold grades like 5m at 10 grams per tonne (g/t) from 273.9m; 9.4m at 5.3g/t from 355.6m, including 3.4m at 9.2g/t; and 10.8m at 4.5g/t from 483.6m, including 4.2m at 7.5g/t.

Resolution Lode mineralisation continues from surface and extends beyond 350m depth, remaining open down-plunge.

This article was developed in collaboration with Navarre 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.