Alkane Resources Ltd (ASX:ALK) is shoring up regional prospects at the Tomingley gold camp in Central West New South Wales as it crafts a roadmap for future mining operations.
The precious metals stock uncovered gold at several regional prospects within seven kilometres of its Tomingley processing hub soon after regional drilling kicked off in early 2023.
Results from 142 aircore, 18 reverse circulation (RC) and four diamond drill holes point to the McLeans, El Paso, Plains and Allendale prospects as the ones to watch, with a maiden underground inferred resource expected at McLeans before year’s end.
Alkane plans to conduct high-resolution airborne magnetics and gravity surveys later this year, paving the way for follow-up drilling on regional targets in early 2024.
A vision for 2032
Alkane’s regional exploration program has been running for four years now, aimed at developing gold hotspots across the 440-square-kilometre Tomingley project area.
This work defined the Roswell and San Antonio deposits, which now form part of Alkane’s government-greenlit Tomingley Gold Extension Project.
Managing director Nic Earner said the exploration program put Tomingley’s approved mining areas and regional prospects under the microscope.
“With current plans already extending to 2032, we are seeking to add further mine life, scale and grade to Tomingley,” he explained.
“It is pleasing to see the various exploration targets around Tomingley yielding results and we look forward to adding the McLeans deposit to our resource base before the end of the calendar year.”
Targets acquired
Drilling at McLeans — between the Roswell deposit and flagship Tomingley site — defined gold over 200 metres of strike and 500 metres down-dip. Mineralisation remains open, and some of the best assays include:
- 5.1 metres at 1.45 g/t gold from 126.4 metres, including 2.5 metres at 2.62 g/t from 129 metres;
- 11.3 metres at 3.72 g/t from 310 metres; including 1 metre at 10.5 g/t from 316 metres and 0.7 metres at 14.8 g/t from 319.3 metres.
The gold company is also showing interest in the Plains prospect, just south of the Roswell deposit and home to a 500-metre by 200-metre gold footprint.
Recent aircore and RC drilling continues to define this mineralisation, yielding results like 8 metres at 0.97 g/t from 134 metres, including 2 metres at 2.02 g/t from 136 metres.
Finally, the Allendale gold-copper porphyry target has been subject to just shy of 100 aircore holes returning assays like:
- 33 metres at 0.08% copper and 0.05 g/t gold from 33 metres, including 3 metres at 0.45 g/t gold and 0.06% copper from 54 metres;
- 12 metres at 0.52 g/t gold and 0.02% copper from 57 metres; and
- 21 metres at 0.11% copper from 93 metres.