Special Report: PNG explorer Gold Mountain has Mother Nature to thank for a recent breakthrough at its flagship Wabag copper-gold project that looks to have significantly increased the size of its highest priority prospect.

The Monoyal prospect is the first to be tested by Gold Mountain (ASX:GMN) at Wabag and is currently the subject of a targeted nine-hole diamond drilling campaign that began in October last year.

While the assay results of the three most recently drilled holes are being processed, the company has been conducting fieldwork – mapping, trenching and rock chip sampling –  in areas around Monoyal.

Surprisingly enough, this work has been aided by recent flash flooding which has exposed fresh mineralised outcrops in streams that drain the Monoyal area.

Three streams, located 50-300m to the south of MCD007 (the most recent drill site), were “flushed out” and revealed wide zones of mineralised tonalite, leading Gold Mountain to conclude that the prospect extends to around 3km long by 1km wide.

“Despite the constraints imposed on the company due to the COVID-19 situation, our field team has been able to continue exploring the Monoyal area, generating vital data to assist us in our search for a large copper-molybdenum-gold porphyry system,” CEO Tim Cameron said.

“Nature has definitely worked in our favour with the localised flooding revealing extensive zones of mineralised outcrops, which has allowed us to get a better understanding of the style of mineralisation. The local Tribesmen are calling this an “Act of God” and I tend to agree.”

“The extent of observed mineralisation is significant and larger than we initially thought.”

The three streams, along with another location 500m north-west of MCD007, were mapped and sampled with one-metre channel samples taken on the outcropping rock.

Trenches were excavated adjacent to the stream where exposures were less developed.

In total, two trenches were excavated and 250 samples collected for further analysis.

Fieldwork undertaken at Monoyal in April and earlier in May has culminated in an updated geology interpretation map that will be combined with pending assay data to assist in drill hole targeting.

Assays for holes MCD005, MCD006 and MCD007, along with those from rock chip samples sent to the laboratory, are due in June.

Drilling of the remaining four diamond holes in the current campaign is expected to resume in the September quarter.

 

 

This story was developed in collaboration with Gold Mountain, a Stockhead advertiser at the time of publishing.
This story does not constitute financial product advice. You should consider obtaining independent advice before making any financial decisions.

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