Upcoming drilling at the Northern Zone project will lead to a maiden gold resource estimate. Pic: Getty Images
Riversgold’s next drill program to size up maiden resources at its Northern Zone gold project
Mining
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- Riversgold is poised to start drilling to estimate resources at its Northern Zone project near Kalgoorlie
- Northern Zone has an exploration target of between 2.5Moz and 4.8Moz of contained gold
- Further metallurgical test work will also be carried out
Special Report: Riversgold’s next drill program at its Northern Zone gold project near Kalgoorlie will be aimed at primarily building a significant maiden JORC resource.
Northern Zone is a sub-surface intrusion related gold system (IRGS) that sits about 25km east of Kalgoorlie, Western Australia.
IRGS deposits have the potential to host significant quantities of gold with notable examples being Boddington in WA, Fort Knox in Alaska, and Dublin Gulch in Yukon.
This potential can be seen in the Northern Zone’s exploration target which ranges from 200-250Mt grading 0.4-0.6g/t gold for 2.5-4.8Moz of contained gold.
Providing a hint of where the project could go, Riversgold (ASX:RGL) considers Saturn Metals’ (ASX:STN) Apollo Hill project 175km to the north as an example of what it is looking to achieve at Northern Zone.
Apollo Hill has a resource of 105Mt at 0.54g/t gold, or 1.84Moz of contained gold, though the company believes that Northern Zone is potentially larger.
Previous metallurgical work has also achieved 92.9% gold recovery using standard 24-hour bottle roll cyanide extraction.
Additionally, the most recent drilling has confirmed that gold mineralisation extends to depth of ~450m which validates the previous exploration model, gold mineralisation widths and grades, as well as structural orientation of the gold mineralisation.
Notable assays from drilling in 2023 and 2021 include:
- 330m at 0.49g/t gold from 30m (BNRC066);
- 110m at 0.60g/t gold from 208m (RSDD02);
- 154m at 0.58g/t gold from 98m (210PRC004); and
- 66m at 0.89g/t gold from 30m (BNRC069)
Resource definition drilling
RGL’s geologists have visited Northern Zone to scope out the site and plan drilling to define a maiden resource.
Chairman David Lenigas notes the project’s mineralisation widths of over 100m, significant potential strike and drill tested depth make it a “very exciting” gold play given current Australian gold prices of over $3,600/oz.
“RGL’s senior team were on site a week ago to scope the next drilling program and making plans to drill Northern Zone to deliver a maiden JORC compliant resource,” Lenigas said.
“We see Northern Zone as being somewhat similar to Saturn Metals Limited’s Apollo Hill Gold Project and the early metallurgy points towards a potential heap leach operation.”
Other activity
Besides the planned resource drilling, RGL also intends to carry out further metallurgical test work to confirm the amenability of the mineralisation to leaching and develop initial estimates of reagent consumption.
This article was developed in collaboration with Riversgold, 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.
