Strong sulphide marks Wiluna’s first East Lode hole a high-grade gold candidate

Wiluna first hole at the East Lode Lower Target of its namesake project has intersected 8m of strong sulphides in strongly sheared and altered rock.

The sulphide intersection, located 200m below the East Lode historical workings and current resource limits, has features indicative of high-grade gold mineralisation elsewhere in the Wiluna gold system.

It follows on the narrow, but ultra-high intercept of 0.3m grading 3,270 grams per tonne (g/t) gold in free milling vein-style mineralisation within the first hole at the Bulletin North target.

Wiluna Mining Corporation’s (ASX:WMC) remaining seven holes in the program will test over 1,000m of strike and 700m of down-plunge extensions of the East and West Lodes that historically were the main producing lodes at the project.

“This intercept is just what we’re looking for in the South Mine Area as we expand our focus to discover new high-grade shoots, in addition to our ongoing drilling to methodically infill the existing Mineral Resource mainly in the North Mine Area,” executive chair Milan Jerkovic said.

“Historically, the East and West Lodes were the largest, high-grade production areas at Wiluna, so we’re seeking a repeat of shoots of similar scale to materially enhance the long-term production profile at Wiluna.

“Importantly, these intercepts are only 1000m laterally away from the Golden Age and Calais mine areas, so they potentially open a whole new extension to the mineralised system with the prospect of relatively low-cost and rapid access to be targeted for resource and reserve growth.”

East and West Lodes

The historical workings at East Lode produced 720,000oz of gold at an average grade of 6.7g/t between 1931 and 1946 while the West Lode produced 690,000oz at 8.6g/t between 1932 and 1946.

Despite this, the area being tested by the company’s drilling has seen little exploration to date.

Holes are designed to intersect both the East and West Lodes, which are sub-parallel and situated less than 200m apart.

The first hole WUDD0077 intersected the strong sulphides within the East Lode structure while the West Lode was intersected at the modelled position with trace amounts of sulphides, shearing and alteration indicative of low-tenor gold mineralisation.

However, the West Lode intercept about 700m below the limit of historical drilling does confirm the large-scale continuity of the structure far below previous exploration.

This article was developed in collaboration with Wiluna Mining Corporation, 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.