Kairos’ big nugget find could reignite Pilbara gold excitement; shares take off

Kairos Minerals has uncovered 256 gold nuggets at its Croydon project in Western Australia’s Pilbara region.

The nuggets have the hallmark “watermelon seed” shape and texture that became a hot topic in July last year when two other Pilbara gold explorers – Artemis Resources (ASX:ARV) and Canadian partner Novo Resources – picked up some at their Purdy’s Reward project near Karratha.

The excitement surrounding the Pilbara conglomerate gold story has died down somewhat, but Kairos investors certainly got excited after the news hit the market.

Shares jumped nearly 19 per cent to an intra-day high of 3.8c.

Conglomerate gold refers to nuggets hosted in rock containing rounded grey quartz pebbles and other minerals. The world’s most productive gold region, South Africa’s Witwatersrand Basin, is famous for its similar geological formation.

Chairman Terry Topping said Kairos (ASX:KAI) had delivered a “bonanza result with the discovery of an extensive nugget patch within the Croydon project and the recovery of 256 nuggets with a combined weight of 254 grams (8.2oz)”.

The nuggets were found during metal detecting of a small area of 150m by 50m.

“This is a really significant discovery, both for Kairos and for the Pilbara region,” Mr Topping said.

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The nuggets are associated with the highly prospective Mt Roe Basalt that has been mentioned by other Pilbara explorers that have found conglomerate gold.

Mt Roe Basalt is a volcanic rock formation in the Pilbara’s Fortescue Basin which is known to host gold mineralisation as well as copper, zinc and uranium.

Kairos says the conglomerate and sandstone outcrops about 400m south and along strike from the nugget patch within the catchment.

These sediments rest on basement and are overlain by the Mt Roe Basalt.

The previously unexplored prospective geological sequence extends for at least 5km to the North, according to Kairos.

At last month’s Diggers & Dealers conference Canada’s Novo Resources — one of the pioneers of last year’s Pilbara gold rush — said it might have uncovered the source of the region’s nuggetty gold and would have “very, very interesting things” to say in coming months.

Last month Stockhead columnist Barry FitzGerald reported the boss of ASX-listed Kirkland Lake Gold (ASX:KLA), as saying the gold industry could be turned “upside down’’ if the Pilbara delivers on its conglomerate gold potential.