‘Tip of the iceberg’: First pass drilling by New Age Exploration at Wagyu hits gold

First pass drilling shows gold mineralisation across all four targets at Wagyu project
Grades of up to 2.2g/t found in Stage 1 aircore drilling
More assays to come ahead of Phase 2 drilling

Special Report: Multiple intercepts of gold mineralisation from New Age Exploration’s maiden aircore drill program at its Wagyu gold project in WA’s Pilbara have been discovered across all four generated targets.

The Wagyu landholding is significantly located between the two limbs of $3.3bn gold developer De Grey Mining’s (ASX:DEG) epic Mallina gold project, which includes the +10Moz Hemi deposit – soon to become one of Australia’s top five gold mines.

After a long negotiation with international concrete materials producer Holcim for exploration rights at the strategically located landholding, New Age Exploration (ASX:NAE) is right where it wants to be – using the drillbit to prove up Wagyu’s unexplored potential.

The gold mineralised corridor New Age Exploration shares with De Grey Mining. Pic: NAE

First assays from Wagyu

Drilling so far has returned 21 gold mineralised intercepts for 127m across 18 drillholes as part of a planned first pass aircore drill program which covered 7640m for a total 156 drillholes.

Significant intercepts include:

3m at 2.2 g/t gold from 24m down hole
1m at 1.5 g/t gold from 39m down hole
1m at 1.3 g/t gold from 52m down hole; and
4m at 0.9 g/t gold from 12m down hole

NAE says mineralisation is spread across several areas on the east side of the project, with gold showing at all four gravity geophysics generated targets that have been drill-tested. Silver has also been detected, with 10 mineralised intercepts confirmed.

NAE executive director Joshua Wellisch said the company was delighted with the gold results from its first-ever exploration drilling at the recently acquired Wagyu.

“To achieve gold intercepts including 3 metres at 2+ grams per tonne within 6 months of acquiring the project is a great outcome,” he said.

“This opening phase of exploration at Wagyu examined our four high-priority gold targets, including ‘Hemi-Style’ intrusive systems, and we are so pleased to find gold mineralisation at all four locations tested.

“We gain confidence in our exploration approach from these results and our search for more gold at Wagyu continues with Phase 2 Air Core drilling underway.

“I understand that five drillholes from Phase 1 ended in mineralisation, so this could be the tip of the iceberg, and we are optimistic for further good news in the coming weeks”

NAE is now eagerly awaiting the results from single metre resamples of Phase 1.

Phase 2 drilling will test additional gold targets across the project seeking further breakthroughs, along with following up on prospective areas determined from Phase 1.

This article was developed in collaboration with New Age Exploration, 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.