Western Gold Resources Limited (ASX: WGR) has received promising final assay results from 68-reverse circulation (RC) drill holes for 4,428m recently completed at the Eagle and Comedy King deposit and the Blob prospects at its Gold Duke project in Western Australia.
The Gold Duke Project contains a combined JORC-2012 Mineral Resource estimate of 4,570,000 tonnes at 2.0 g/t Au for 293,000 oz Au and the project is located approximately 40km southwest of Wiluna.
The gold mineralisation at the Eagle and Comedy King deposits is within the regional Joyners Find shear zone and is hosted within vertical to steep westerly dipping banded iron formation units (BIF) hosted within highly weathered mafic and ultramafic rocks. At the Blob prospect mineralisation is interpreted to be related to NE-trending quartz veins. All the recent and most of the historical drilling is on an azimuth of 0900 inclined at -600 which is approximately perpendicular to the mineralisation.
“The recent shallow high-grade RC results from the Eagle and Comedy King deposits are very impressive and once again confirm the extensive untested resource potential of the Gold Duke Project. With the Eagle deposit still open to the north, south and at depth we look forward to unlocking additional value at the prospect,” Managing Director, Warren Thorne, said.
“Numerous high-grade intercepts at Comedy King are highly encouraging and follow-up mapping and structural analysis is planned to prioritise further drilling. The results support the exploration teams strategy and with an aggressive exploration program planned for 2022, the team looks forward to sharing strong news-flow over the coming months.”
Eagle
The Eagle prospect contains a JORC (2012) Indicated and Inferred Mineral Resource estimate of 790,000 tonnes at 1.8 g/t Au for 45,000 oz,
A total of 22 RC drill holes for 1324m were recently completed to test the southern extension of the eastern lode and northern extensions of the western lode.
All significant intercepts are listed in Table 2 and include:
- 6m @ 11.66 g/t Au from 58m (including 2m @ 27.04 g/t Au) (WGRC0299)
- 6m @ 4.38 g/t Au from 84m (WGRC0303)
- 5m @ 3.03 g/t Au from 64m (WGRC0302)
- 4m @ 3.40 g/t Au from 49m (WGRC0296)
Drilling of the eastern lode tested the southerly strike extension of a hematite-goethite altered BIF unit. WGR drilled below historic AC drilling (that intersected no significant gold mineralisation) to test the southerly plunge of the mineralisation intersected in previous WGR drilling to the north.
The drilling intersected a southerly plunging high-grade shoot and extends the strike length of the eastern lode mineralisation by 100m.
The high-grade intercept in WGRC0299 which includes 6m @ 11.66g/t Au from 58m, including 2m @ 27.04 g/t Au demonstrates the presence of extremely high-grade lodes within the deposit. This southern lode continues to be open to the south and at depth and infill and extensional drilling is planned.
Drilling on the northern extension of the western lode intercepted numerous thinner hematite- goethite altered BIF units, interpreted to be a repetition of stratigraphy caused by tight upright isoclinal folding. Further drilling is planned further north on the Western lode once further field mapping and structural analysis is completed.
Comedy King
The Comedy King deposit contains a JORC (2012) Inferred Mineral Resource estimate of 260,000 tonnes at 1.5 g/t Au for 12,000 oz.
A total of 37 RC drill holes for 2360m were drilled to test 1300m of strike to the north and south of the historic Comedy King shaft. Drilling targeted hematite-goethite altered BIF as well as silicified ultramafics with extensive quartz veining.
All significant intercepts include:
- 2m @ 7.63 g/t Au from 44m (including 1m @ 14.05 g/t Au) (WGRC0237)
- 2m @ 1.85 g/t Au from 17m and 1m @ 3.85g/t Au from 24m (WGRC0226)
- 3m @ 1.12 g/t Au from 5m (WGRC0231)
The high-grade intercept in WGRC0237 drilled under the historic Comedy King shaft to target the southern plunge of the ore shoot intersected 2m @ 7.63 g/t Au from 44m (including 1m @ 14.05 g/t Au) hosted within brecciated chert and hematite-goethite altered BIF. Further drilling aimed to intersect the quartz-hosted gold mineralisation to the north and south of the shaft failed to intersect significant mineralisation suggesting that mineralisation may plunge steeper to the southwest than previously expected.
Exploration RC drilling on 80m spaced lines to the south of the Comedy King intersected narrow high-grade intercepts within hematite-goethite altered BIF. Downhole televiewer data collected from the drilling and field mapping will be used for a structural review of the drill hole to assess further targets and will form part of planning for the aggressive 22,000m drill programme.
The Blob
A total of nine RC drill holes for 744 m were drilled at the Blob prospect to test a 300 x 150m soil geochemical anomaly with a peak of 130ppb.
An east-west line of drilling intersected a sequence of predominantly ultramafics with minor BIF and chert. WGRC0277 intersected 1m @ 1.39g/t (43-44m) within sheared ultramafics. No further work is planned at the prospect at this stage with the exploration budget directed towards higher priority targets.
Next Steps
The current assay results from the Eagle and Comedy King deposits and the Blob prospect mean that all outstanding assays from 2021 exploration have now been received and disclosed and will form the basis for an upgrade to the current combined JORC-2012 Mineral Resource estimate expected to be late Q1 2022 or early Q2 2022.
The company is in the process of finalising its planning for exploration in the first quarter which will include a targeted drill program to identify the southern and northern extent of the Eagle deposit, and test depth extensions to high-grade lodes at the historic Joyners and Brilliant mines.
For further information please visit: https://westerngoldresources.com.au/
