Viking drilling to chase high-grade gold at First Hit

Viking has kicked off step-out diamond drilling aimed at proving its belief that historical drilling at its First Hit mine was ineffective.

Observations of historical drilling by previous owners and its own drill data have allowed the company to model plunging zones of high grade mineralisation within the First Hit system.

These shoots occur at an inflection point in the foliation measured from the company’s diamond drill core, allowing Viking Mines (ASX:VKA) to plan step-out holes along strike from known mineralisation.

“Observations made from the drill core collected in the Phase 1 Drill Program gives us reason to believe that the limited historical drill testing under old prospectors workings along strike from the First Hit mine has been ineffective,” managing director Julian Woodcock said.

“Using this knowledge, Viking have planned and commenced four step-out drill holes as part of the Phase 2 diamond drill programme >150m along strike of the known mineralisation at First Hit.”

Prospector’s workings and step-out drilling

Viking noted that as part of its strategy to identify new mineralised shoots in addition to First Hit, field mapping and a review of the high resolution drone imagery and LiDAR data was used to assess historical prospector’s workings.

LiDAR scanning of a few shafts found that the lateral extent of some workings indicate that the prospectors were potentially following mineralisation.

Additionally, historical reverse circulation drilling by Barra Resources was assessed and found to have been ineffective by testing vertically below the shaft positions.

In addition, no structural data has previously been collected and the new data will assist in the targeting for future drilling.

Next steps

Viking has started the step-out drilling program and plans to complete the holes to plan unless additional observations are made in the diamond core to extend the drillholes further.

Drilling is expected to be completed by mid-June with logging and sampling to be completed by late June.

This article was developed in collaboration with Viking Mines, 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.