Spotlight remains firmly on gold with high grades and project buys

High-grade hits and new acquisitions continue to shine a light on gold, which has seen a renaissance this year thanks to the nuggety gold phenomenon in Western Australia.

Newly minted Tando Resources (ASX:TNO) has put its foot on conglomerate-hosted prospective land in the Pilbara, while junior explorer Matsa Resources (ASX:MAT) has uncovered gold grading at up to 921 grams per tonne near Laverton.

The gold nugget rush in the Pilbara region of north Western Australia has been a boon for ASX-listed explorers, with share prices soaring on the back of frenzied buying by investors.

MAT shares over the past year. Source Investing.com — MAT shares over the past year. Source: Investing.com

It was kicked off in July by Artemis Resources (ASX:ARV) and Canadian partner Novo Resources, which announced a gold nugget find at their Purdy’s Reward project south of Karratha.

Tando revealed today that it has acquired an option over a tenement that lies in the same belt being explorer by Novo, Haoma Mining (ASX:HAO), Impact Minerals (ASX:IPT) and DGO Gold (ASX:DGO).

“The gold potential of the Pilbara region has been brought to international attention in recent months,” managing director Bill Oliver said.

“This acquisition provides our shareholders with direct exposure to this emerging sector at a minimal upfront cost.”

The new tenement contains outcropping Mt Roe Basalts with conglomerate units observed within the tenement area.

Tando has already defined conglomerate-hosted gold targets within the Hardey Formation at its nearby Mt Sydney project, which is similar to the Beatons Creek deposit owned by Novo.

The Hardey and Mt Roe Basalt are volcanic rock formations in the Pilbara’s Fortescue Basin that are known to host gold mineralisation as well as copper, zinc and uranium.

High grades

Matsa’s share price climbed 4.6 per cent just after market open to 23c on the back of news that panning of drill cuttings through a 1m high-grade intercept returned “significant coarse gold” at the Red Dog project. The hit was part of a broader intercept of 6m at 155 grams per tonne.

The company’s share price climbed back up to 29c in November after Matsa declared it was rewarding shareholders by offering a 1-for-10 bonus share issue.

Although Matsa’s Red Dog project is not in the Pilbara, it does lie in an area with several major gold discoveries, including major AngloGold Ashanti’s (ASX:AGG) Sunrise Dam gold mine.

Recent drilling uncovered a near surface, relatively flat lying and continuous zone of mineralisation 1m to 14m thick and typically from 3m to 10m below surface. The mineralisation remains open in several directions, Matsa noted.

The company believes Red Dog could potentially be a near-term mining opportunity using the infrastructure from Matsa’s Fortitude mine, 25km to the East, where trial mining is already underway.

Matsa is now working on a resource estimate to determine the economic potential of the project.

Shares cooled slightly to 22.5c just before midday Wednesday.