Visible coarse gold intersected at Viking’s First Hit mine

Viking Mines has intersected visible coarse gold with assays of up to 1m at 47.05g/t gold from diamond drilling at its First Hit mine in WA’s Eastern Goldfields region.

The initial results from the second phase drilling also intersected 10-15m wide zones with elevated gold content around the mineralised positions that provide context for the level of anomaly to look out for in aircore drilling when follow-up regional exploration is carried out.

Viking Mines (ASX:VKA) managing director Julian Woodcock noted that the coarse gold seen in the first diamond holes to be drilled at the historical First Hit mine in nearly 20 years had given the company insights into the nature of its mineralisation.

“Understanding in which rocks the gold has formed and the associated minerals helps us to build our knowledge and understanding around the First Hit deposit,” he said.

“This in turn allows us to develop strategies to both extend off the known mineralised position and identify additional shoots and zones of high-grade gold mineralisation.”

Assays are pending for the eight holes drilled immediately around the First Hit mine.

viking — Visible coarse gold at First Hit. Pic: Supplied

Drill results

Of the 14 diamond holes drilled into First Hit, 11 intercepted the target Kylie/Evans lode position, while two holes hit old workings and the last deviated above the recently identified plunge of the lode system.

Assays have been received for six holes to date, with three holes intersecting the target lode.

The most notable result was returned from VDD012, which struck two separate mineralised zones of 1m grading 47.05 grams per tonne (g/t) gold from 173m and 1m at 3.73g/t gold from 167m.

Significant coarse gold was observed in the lower interval with the company noting that both thickness and grade was in line with grade ranges seen in historical drilling and face sampling.

The other two holes returned intersections of 1m at 2.97g/t gold from 156m and 1m at 1.15g/t gold from 184m.

Viking is reviewing the location of mineralisation at both holes in conjunction with historical data to determine the location of the lode position and associated mineralisation characteristics.

Next steps

The company is incorporating the logging data and results received to date in order to develop its interpretation and understanding of the First Hit mineralised system.

As part of this, it is advancing the 3D model of the mineralisation at the mine scale with preliminary wireframes constructed for mineralised lodes, faults and lithologies to help with further targeting and to assist the planning of follow-up drilling.

It is also started work on 3D modelling of the regional geology and structure at the tenement scale, with a site visit completed and data review underway.

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.