Saturn’s infill drilling has demonstrated the continuity of mineralisation and indicated the potential to improve grades at its Apollo Hill gold project.
The potential for localised grade improvement is highlighted by a thick high grade zone of 33m grading 5.8 grams per tonne (g/t) gold from a depth of 49m within a broader 54m intercept at 3.72g/t gold from 43m, well above the 37m at 0.44g/t gold from 41m seen in a ‘twin’ hole just 6m away.
Results above 5g/t are generally considered to be high-grade.
Grades are not the only improvement that Saturn Metals (ASX:STN) believes will improve from more drilling.
Drilling has also significantly improved the ratio of mineralised material to non-mineralised material, which the company believes could improve the stripping ratio in any pit optimisations.
This is pretty handy given that a lower strip ratio will mean less waste material has to be removed, lowering mining costs.
Assays are pending for the remaining three holes in the 89 hole infill resource/grade control program totalling 6,188m.
“Results from this program have increased our confidence in the deposit’s potential and provided some excellent intersections for Saturn’s next planned resource upgrade,” managing director Ian Bamborough said.
“These results, along with other expansionary exploration, and recently reported drill results, provide strong leverage for ongoing growth at Apollo Hill.”
Apollo Hill currently has a resource of 35.9Mt grading 0.8g/t for 944,000oz of contained gold.
Upcoming activity
Saturn is about halfway through its ongoing reverse circulation drilling campaign.
With about 30,000m of drilling now completed, the company has a further 30,000m planned across Apollo Hill over the next couple of months.
Once this is completed, data from the drilling will be used for a resource upgrade later this year.
This article was developed in collaboration with Saturn Metals, 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.