Recently completed reverse circulation (RC) drilling at Kamperman Prospect within the Feysville Gold Project of Astral Resources NL (ASX:AAR) in Western Australia has extended strike length to around 450 metres with results supporting a maiden mineral resource estimate (MRE) for the prospect as part of a broader Feysville MRE update.
The focus areas of Astral’s 18-hole, 2,172-metre, RC drill program were infill drilling and extensional drilling both up and down dip and along an initial mineralised strike length of more than 350 metres interpreted from previous drilling.
This drilling was designed to reduce line spacing to no more than 40 metres along the full strike length of currently defined mineralisation. The program also tested an 80-metre extension to the north and 40 metres to the south.
Consistently positive results
The program has delivered consistently positive results — such as 28 metres at 1.99 g/t gold from 68 metres, including 1 metre at 12.2 g/t from 89 metres — with two-thirds of the RC holes returning significant gold mineralisation.
The Infill and extensional drilling supports interpretation of gold mineralisation over 450 metres of strike which remains open to the north.
Kamperman drill collar locations for latest program and previous assay results.
Maiden Kamperman resource
Astral is now undertaking preliminary work to deliver an updated MRE for the Feysville Gold Project, which is expected in the second half of this year. This will incorporate an updated MRE for the Think Big deposit and maiden MREs for the Rogan Josh and Kamperman prospects.
Feysville currently hosts a MRE of 3 million tonnes at 1.3 g/t gold for 116,000 ounces of contained gold at Think Big. This provides a foundation to potentially become a source of satellite ore feed to a future operation based on the company’s flagship Mandilla Gold Project.
Astral’s drilling success has the potential to establish Feysville as a valuable source of higher-grade satellite ore, as contemplated in the September 2023 Scoping Study.
The Feysville Gold Project is within the NNW trending Norseman-Wiluna Greenstone Belt within the Kambalda Domain of the Archaean Yilgarn Craton. Significant gold and nickel mineralisation occurs throughout the belt, including world-class deposits such as the Golden Mile Super Pit in Kalgoorlie owned by Northern Star Ltd and the St Ives Gold Mine south of Kambalda owned by Gold Fields Ltd.
Kamperman continues to grow
Astral Resources’ managing director Marc Ducler said: “The Kamperman Prospect continues to grow ahead of the delivery of a maiden mineral resource, which is expected to be announced in the latter half of the year.
“Shallow RC drilling is a cost-effective and efficient means of exploration, especially when two-thirds of our drill holes are intersecting significant gold mineralisation, as we have seen at Kamperman.
“A slimline RC rig is now on site and provides a very cost-effective method of drilling shallow holes up to approximately 70 metres depth. This style of drill rig is well suited to the in-fill program now underway at Rogan Josh, which is aiming to improve the definition of a zone of enriched supergene gold mineralisation identified in several historical holes.
“The maiden mineral resource estimates for both Kamperman and Rogan Josh will feed into a broader update to the Feysville Project MRE, which is expected to be delivered in the second half of 2024.
“With relatively conservative pit design (based on A$2,100/ounce gold price) and revenue assumptions (A$2,750/ounce gold price) used for the Mandilla Scoping Study, the availability of additional higher-grade ore from Feysville is expected to provide significant additional financial leverage for the upcoming Mandilla pre-feasibility study.
“In addition to the current resource definition drilling, Astral is also planning to complete a regional exploration program comprising 4 line kilometres of aircore drilling to test an area up to two kilometres to the north of Kamperman.
"Interpreted crosscutting structures and intrusive rocks considered to be potentially important pathways and sites for gold mineralisation appear to cut through a complex folded greenstone package in this area, representing a compelling large-scale gold target.”
Read more on Proactive Investors AU
