Waratah flying as it extends gold mineralisation at Spur Zone in NSW

• Waratah Minerals has extended gold mineralisation at its Spur Zone 150m below previous drilling
• Drill rig count about to be upped from three to five to accelerate exploration
• $185m capped WTM generating major buzz after massive drill hit at Consols Zone in August

Special Report: There are few gold discoveries in Australia generating as much buzz as Waratah Minerals’ Spur Gold Corridor in New South Wales.

And new results have shown the mineralisation continues 150m below previous drilling at the Spur Zone as Waratah Minerals’ (ASX:WTM) hunt for a major gold discovery in the shadow of the massive Cadia gold mine continues.

Coming off the back of a landmark result in August that propelled Waratah onto the watch lists of numerous professional investors, brokers and analysts, the latest drill results show how much bigger the find could get.

Assays from four diamond holes have been returned, with hole SPD006 striking 7m at 6.5g/t Au from 287m, including 3.3m at 13.39g/t Au from 288.7m, and SPD008 finding 12m at 4.65g/t Au from 355.4m and 8.1m at 6.4g/t from 356m.

Those hits extended mineralisation 150m down plunge and to the south.

“These new results support our conviction in the potential of the Spur Gold Corridor. Drill holes SPD006 and SPD008 have extended mineralisation to the south and down plunge at the Spur Zone, showing the system is open and growing,” WTM managing director Peter Duerden said. 

It comes with two drill holes at the Consols Zone close to completion, targeting mineralisation around the SPRCD062 hole which delivered the breakout 208.7m at 1.17g/t Au hit. Another two rigs are due to site soon to take the rig count to five, after a $30m placement that stocked WTM’s coffers for a drilling assault.

“We continue to ramp up our activity with several new additions to our exploration team and an additional two rigs mobilising in the coming fortnight bringing the fleet to five,” Duerden said.

“The current drilling schedule plans for two diamond drill rigs active at the Spur Zone, two at Consols and a fifth testing the multiple other zones within the Spur Gold Corridor.”

Filling the gaps

Thick intercepts found in infill drilling at Spur are also providing encouragement.

Highlights from SPD004 and SPD007 included 

• 101m at 0.75g/t Au from 195m (SPD004) including
  • 12m at 1.69g/t Au from 202m and 
  • 15m at 2.41g/t Au from 221m
• 86m at 1.36g/t Au from 123m (SPD007) including 
  • 22m at 3.4g/t Au from 127m including
    •  1m at 40.9g/t from 128m.

SPD007 was drilled to the northeast, filling a blank space between SPRC007 and SPRC065, hitting mineralisation within a volcanoclastic conglomerate, and high grade mineralisation with northeast striking sulphide stringers and breccias.

SPD004, meanwhile, was drilled to the southwest to infill mineralisation between between SPRC063 and SPRCD050. The highest grades were found there at the top of a mineralised zone from 195m coincident with sulphide stringers and breccias.

The two additional rigs will be onsite in the next fortnight, with one to help expand the mineralised zone at Consols and the other to infill and further expand high grade gold mineralisation at Spur.

Waratah shares are up ~320% YTD, with the explorer hitting a market cap of $185m.

This article was developed in collaboration with Waratah Minerals, 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.