Latest Menzies Drilling Campaign Returns High-Grade Assays
Kingwest Resources Ltd (ASX:KWR) has intersected its deepest mineralisation yet at the historic Menzies gold mine in Western Australia.
In hole KWR204 mineralisation comprising 6m @ 1.49 g/t Au was intersected 80m deeper than any previous drilling.
CEO, Ed Turner, said Tthis once again proves the potential to increase all resources further at depth. All results will be incorporated into the updated MRE which will be completed in February.
Significant results have also been returned from drill holes previously reported at the Aspaciaand Lady Irene Prospectsalthough the Lady Irene samples are only spear composite samples at this stage Lady Irene is located approximately 5km along strike to the NW of Menzies. It does not currently have a MRE but Open Cut production during the 1990’s comprised 47,721t @ 4.77g/t for 6,502 ozto 34m depth.
“These final results from the 2020 drilling are in line with previous high-grade results and will be valuable additions to the updated MRE’s which are currently underway and due to be completed in February. These MRE’s will be utilised in the Scoping Study which is also underway and due for completion in March,” Mr Turner said.
“Importantly the drilling to date that will be included in the MRE’s is still mainly only to a maximum depth of 100m below surface. Deeper extensions to the mineralisation will be the main focus of 2021 drilling which is already underway.
“I also eagerly await initial assays from the Goongarrie aircore drilling. The planned drilling metres was doubled during the program partly in order to better test the targets beneath transported sediments but also based on visually encouraging material intersected in the target areas.”
Since the last drilling update at Menzies in mid-December 2020, 12 RC holes were drilled for 2068m in the Lady Shenton before the Christmas Break. These holes were designed to follow up numerous high-grade results previously reported with several successfully testing for depth extensions to the two main lodes at the Pericles Deposit within the Lady Shenton System.
There are numerous high-grade intersections including:
- 4m @ 8.85 g/t Au from 115m (inc. 1m @ 31.79 g/t Au from 117m) in KWR199
- 8m @ 4.84 g/t Au from 56m (inc. 1m @ 29.03 g/t Au from 63m) in KWR202
- 1m @ 24.62 g/t Au from 133m in KWR202
- 2m @ 10.18 g/t Au from 68m in KWR199 and
- 1m @ 14.31 g/t Au from 145m in KWR198
Meanwhile, a Scoping Study has commenced at Menzies and is due for completion in March 2021. The Scoping Study will focus on shallow ore that can be toll treated rather than be milled onsite at Menzies. There are a number of mills within trucking distance from Menzies enabling Kingwest to avoid unnecessary capital expenditure prior to the commencement of open cut mining.
Further drilling in 2021 will focus on proving up deeper extensions to the updated MRE’s and mineralisation that may be mined from underground operations following open cut mining.
Elsewhere, a maiden air-core drilling programme has just been completed at the highly prospective Goongarrie Gold Project (GGP) with 381 holes for 10,682 metres drilled at numerous targets across the project area. Drilling was focused on multiple targets on and around the shallow salt lakes or on clay pans adjacent to the salt lakes.
The ancient lake sediments are widespread and have inhibited previous exploration efforts as they act as a mask above possible mineralisation.
The initial programme was extended by more than 5,000m due to a number of factors. Deeper than expected transported sediments comprising ancient lake sediments and paleochannel sediments in the south east part of the Project meant deeper drilling was required to effectively test the underlying in-situ material. Additional drill holes and deeper holes were also planned during the programme based on the prospective rocks intersected.
