Paulsens restart is looking likelier as Black Cat hits more high-grade gold

Black Cat is surer than ever that the high-grade vein swarms contained within footwall Gabbro Veins at its Paulsens Gold Operations are a readily accessible, near-term mining opportunity.

Drilling at the Gabbro Veins, which are unmined and located adjacent to and up to 200m from the existing decline that was installed to provide access at the Main Lode within the previously producing mine, returned results of up to 3.42m grading 16.21 grams per tonne (g/t) gold from a depth of 69.7m (22PGRD001).

Gabbro is a type of intrusive rock which can contain valuable mineralisation and the drill results to date indicate that Black Cat Syndicate (ASX:BC8) will likely benefit from previous operator Northern Star Resources overlooking its potential.

The excitement builds

And to make it even more exciting, the Gabbro Veins are known to be mineralised over a strike plunge length of more than 1km while offering relatively easy access as it runs roughly parallel to the existing underground infrastructure.

This is all music to the company’s ears as it seeks to restart production at Paulsens in the middle of this year.

Drilling of near mine targets such as the Gabbro Veins and sediment hosted veins in the upper areas of the mine is also ongoing.

“The latest results from the Gabbro Veins continue to highlight their significant future mining potential and further validate Black Cat’s new geology model,” managing director Gareth Solly said.

“The Gabbro Veins are located adjacent to infrastructure and represent a potential new start-up mining area at Paulsens.

“With a second rig commencing this month our drilling activities will increase and expedite additional discovery and resource growth.”

Road to production

Black Cat expects a second underground diamond rig to begin operations this month to expedite both near mine Resource growth and discovery drilling.

An upgrade to the high-grade underground Resource of 89,000oz at an average grade of 5.9g/t gold is underway and will be completed in February 2023.

Engineering and mining studies are underway to support a potential operational restart decision, which is supported by the presence of an existing processing facility.

This article was developed in collaboration with Black Cat Syndicate, 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.