Rigs roar to life as QMines targets high-grade gold at Mount Mackenzie

• Drilling begins at QMines’ Mount Mackenzie gold-silver project
• The program will test strike and depth extensions of high-grade zones
• It will also take a closer look at several untested gold-in-soil anomalies

Special Report: Fresh off the back of a successful 8600m campaign at Develin Creek, QMines has rolled two rigs straight into the newly acquired Mount Mackenzie gold-silver project in Central Queensland, with the first hole already in the bag.

The maiden program at Mount Mackenzie will run to around 5000m across 36 holes.

It is designed to do two things – chase strike and depth extensions of known high-grade zones and put first drill-tests into several gold-in-soil anomalies that have never seen a rig.

That decision is backed by standout historical hits including 8m at 69.4g/t gold from 6m, 27m at 6.5g/t gold from 4m, and broad zones such as 100m at 2.9g/t gold from 20m.

Meanwhile, across at Develin Creek, drilling has wrapped up with more than 8,000m completed to grow and upgrade the VHMS resource at Sulphide City.

Core has been collected for geotech and metallurgy, and visuals support the existing geological model as final assays are now pending before the data feeds into the next resource update.

Two rigs on the ground  

QMines (ASX:QML) executive chairman Andrew Sparke said Mt Mackenzie represents one of the most exciting high-grade gold and silver drilling programs he has seen in a very long time.

“The deposit has grade, it has width and remains open down plunge and along strike,” Sparke added.

“Historical drilling has already delivered outstanding results such as 8m at 69.4g/t gold, 20m at 7.46g/t gold, 12m at 14.9g/t gold and 100m at 2.86 g/t gold.

“With two rigs mobilising to site, we are commencing another large drilling program designed to unlock this deposit’s true potential,” he said.

“This is exactly the kind of program that can deliver real excitement for the market and our shareholders.”

Watch: High-Grade gold and silver hits at Mount Mackenzie

Mount Mackenzie drill targets

Mount Mackenzie sits within a classic high-sulphidation epithermal system – a Late Carboniferous gold-silver setting inside the Connors–Auburn volcanic arc.

Importantly, the system is still open – both down-dip and along strike – across the North Knoll and Southwest Slopes zones.

And there are big targets still untouched by drilling.

One is a large southern strike anomaly about 200 by 175m in size – larger than anything tested to date – with silver highs and arsenic trends lining up underneath it.

Another sits to the southwest, roughly 300 by 150m, which now needs infill soils to tighten it up before the rig goes near it.

This article was developed in collaboration with QMines, 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.