Spartan kicks off major expansion drilling at top tier Dalgaranga gold project

Spartan Resources targeting resource update and growth at Dalgaranga
20,000m surface drilling underway at Freak and Sly Fox prospects
65,000m underground drilling planned at Never Never, Pepper, Freak, Four Pillars and West Winds deposits

Special Report: Spartan Resources has begun a major ~85,000m surface and underground drilling program at its Dalgaranga gold project on the hunt for more resources – and to update the confidence of the existing 2.87Moz resource.

The company has overseen a remarkable turnaround – which produced over 70,000oz of gold in FY2022 prior to an operational reset in November 2022.

The pause led to the drillout of the high-grade Never Never gold deposit, less than 1km from the existing 2.5Mtpa processing plant and infrastructure. It turned into a company re-maker with 1.49Moz at over 8g/t, with the once ailing Spartan Resources (ASX:SPR) now worth $1.7 billion and regarded as one of the ASX’s top gold takeover targets.

Its newest round of drilling could make Dalgaranga, which also hosts the high grade Pepper and Freak discoveries, even bigger. At Diggers and Dealers last year, exec chair Simon Lawson indicated he wanted to drill out a field at least as big as the nearby 6Moz Mt Magnet, operated by SPR’s major shareholder Ramelius Resources (ASX:RMS).

It now boasts close to 3Moz of high grade gold, setting the project up for a potentially lucrative restart with gold prices trading in excess of $4400/oz.

“After wrapping up 2024 with a landmark resource upgrade and $220 million capital raising, Spartan enters the New Year with significant momentum and activity levels quickly moving up a gear,” Lawson said.

“With the gold price continuing to hit new records, the backdrop has never been better for Spartan to capitalise on the enormous opportunities in front of us and turn Dalgaranga into one of the most exciting new high-grade gold operations in Australia, if not the world!

“Spartan shareholders can look forward to another year of energy, excitement and value-creation across the business.”

Around 20,000m of surface drilling is planned with two rigs already up and running targeting Freak, Sly Fox and other near-mine targets, including targets immediately north of Never Never and south of Freak.

Plus, underground drilling contractor Australian Underground Drilling is currently mobilising to site to commence drilling in February, with the plan to complete 65,000m at the Never Never, Pepper, Freak, Four Pillars and West Winds deposits.

Resource update and mine restart

All going well, the company says the next project-wide resource update should be scheduled for mid-CY2025.

SPR is also excited to follow up on surface drilling from late last year which intersected:

9.85m at 3.38g/t gold above the current Pepper resource estimate and extends Four Pillars to the north.
15.74m at 1.40g/t gold from 406.00m down-hole at Four Pillars; and
0.29m at 7.94g/t gold from 813.32m outside the resource estimate envelope at Freak.

Due to the proximity to the Juniper decline – around 1230m of which has been completed to date – follow-up targeting will be conducted by underground drilling in the June quarter when the drive scope of the Juniper decline is expected to be within 100m of the Never Never deposit.

“Assay results returned from drilling completed right towards the end of 2024 have continued to demonstrate the significant growth potential of all these positions,” Lawson said.

“This includes a strong intercept sitting 100m above Pepper, a significant extensional result at Four Pillars and a high-grade intercept sitting ~300m down-dip of the Freak discovery.

“Our next project-wide MRE update is scheduled for mid-year, with the delivery of the feasibility study on the restart of the Dalgaranga operation expected to follow shortly afterwards.

“That feasibility study will be based on the updated 2.868Moz project-wide mineral resource estimate delivered in December last year.”

Planning activities are currently underway for extending the Juniper Decline development scope to commence initial access to the ore zones in advance of a production restart final investment decision.

This article was developed in collaboration with Spartan Resources, 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.