Navarre flexes exploration muscle on the road to 1Moz gold and beyond

Defining a resource of more than 300,000oz of gold is just the start for Navarre, which is embarking on an ambitious drilling program aimed at defining even more gold.

Defining resources at operating and historical gold fields, what the industry calls brownfields exploration, is comparatively easy.

After all, the area has already proven that it hosts gold and very likely still has gold resources that are just waiting for the right application of modern exploration technology and/or techniques to uncover.

So when Navarre Minerals (ASX:NML) defined a maiden resource of 304,300oz of gold at the Resolution and Adventure prospects within the Stawell Corridor project, it was flexing some serious exploration muscle in what’s essentially greenfields territory.

Greenfields exploration is an entirely different beast from brownfields work as one is essentially looking for mineralisation based on a concept rather than having existing resources to work with.

That’s a point that managing director Ian Holland is keen to emphasise, telling Stockhead that for the Stawell Corridor to be “brought along and nourished to the point where it’s a 300,000oz resource” with further potential beyond that, is a differentiating factor.

“In that sense we lead the pack in the Victorian junior gold sector,” he added.

More gold and more exploration

But Navarre is not resting on its laurels.

The company has just wrapped up a $10m capital raising that ensures that it is funded to keep the drill bit spinning at its highly prospective projects.

“We delivered a maiden resource in the Stawell Corridor at the end of March and we’ve got a plan to further increase that,” Holland added.

“We’ve got an excellent large-scale project, St Arnaud, where we are seeking a maiden resource for as well within 12 months.

“And we have a real X-factor project at Glenlyle, which hosts the early stage Morning Bill prospect that is really exciting.”

For Stawell Corridor, the company has already defined an exploration target of between 300,000 and 400,000oz that it would seek to convert into resources, but it is also looking to grow the resource over and above that.

Navarre had previously noted that the project contains several under-explored mineral systems within its 70km strike extent including seven large basalt dome structures that are similar in geology and geometry to the operating third-party 5Moz Magdala gold deposit about 20km to the north.

Stawell Corridor project — Navarre Stawell Corridor. Pic: Supplied

“We want to grow this thing to 1 million ounces plus and beyond and that’s what we’re looking to do,” Holland told Stockhead.

“Over the next six months, we plan to have continuous diamond drilling at both Stawell Corridor and St Arnaud with regular reporting of those results.

“We’re targeting to update resources at each of those projects in the first quarter of 2022.”

Unlike Stawell Corridor, St Arnauld is more of a brownfields play given that it hosts the historical St Arnaud Goldfield that produced 400,000oz of gold between 1855 and 1916.

Regional drilling

Navarre also has aircore and diamond drilling results along with geophysics that it has completed at the Morning Bill prospect to report over the next couple of months though seasonal weather means it won’t be able to get boots back on the ground at Glenlyle until December.

Shallow aircore drilling at Morning Bill has already outlined a strongly mineralised 1,000m by 400m footprint containing highly anomalous gold, silver, lead and zinc.

The same story is true at the Catalyst Metals (ASX:CYL) operated Tandarra joint venture gold project (Navarre 49 per cent) that is just north of Bendigo, where exploration has already returned shallow, high-grade gold.

“Drilling at Tandarra would look to restart again come November/December as things dry out,crops are taken off and we are able to re-access,” Holland explained.

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.