Planning To Extend Drilling Programme On Back Of Early Success
Victorian-focused gold exploration company, Navarre Minerals Limited (ASX: NML) has received “highly encouraging” gold intercepts from an ongoing air-core (AC) drilling programme at its 100%-owned St Arnaud Gold Project, 240 kilometres north west of Melbourne.
Managing Director, Ian Holland, said the latest assays include a standout broad gold intercept of 20 metres at 1.8 grams per tonne (g/t) gold in hole SAC145, 180 metres north of the New Bendigo Gold Mine (the second largest gold mine within the rich historical St Arnaud Goldfield).
Mr Holland said that along with other high-grade intercepts, this result confirms the strong potential to discover significant economic gold mineralisation beneath the shallow historical workings of the St Arnaud Goldfield.
With 4,000 metres of drilling completed, the AC programme is likely to be extended beyond 5,000 metres given the encouraging results to date.
The latest results come from nine out of 12 (east-west orientated) traverse lines across the New Bendigo Line, representing 1,240 metres of drilling in 19 AC holes.
The programme marks Navarre’s first drill testing beneath the shallow gold workings of the recently granted exploration licence, EL 6819. This permit covers most of the historical mines of the old St Arnaud Goldfield, which produced 400,000 ounces of gold between 1855 and 1916.
Exploration licence, EL 6819 includes the gold-bearing New Bendigo (Bristol), New Chum and Nelson lines of reef.
After testing a 2.6 km extent of the New Bendigo Line, Navarre’s attention will shift eastwards to the prolific Nelson Line. This target hosts the Lord Nelson Mine, which was St Arnaud’s largest gold producer with more than 300,000 ounces of gold production.
The company’s broader AC programme covers 32 holes totalling 2,761 metres on regional targets on adjacent exploration licence, EL 6556. Here, the Company previously identified gold and silver mineralisation extending for at least five kilometres north of the St Arnaud Goldfield under shallow Murray Basin cover.
Navarre currently has two of its six operating drilling rigs deployed at St Arnaud.
“It’s great to see strong gold results generated from our first reconnaissance drilling campaign on our recently granted exploration licence,” Mr Holland said.
“We are currently drilling in the shadow of St Arnaud’s second largest historical mine, the New Bendigo Shaft and we are encouraged by the tenor and widths of the near-surface gold mineralisation intersected to date.
“St Arnaud is the second largest hard-rock goldfield in Victoria’s Stawell Geological Zone which, until now, has missed out on Victoria’s gold resurgence.
“We look forward to sharing strong news-flow over the coming months from this premier mineral property.”
