Carnavale Resources Ltd (ASX:CAV) has started further resource drilling at Kookynie Gold Project’s McTavish East prospect as it targets a shallow, maiden JORC 2012-compliant mineral resource estimate (MRE) early next year.
The 36-hole, 4,200-metre reverse circulation (RC) program is following up extensional high-grade gold results from recent RC drilling in fresh rock that identified high-grade gold shoots.
Challenge Drilling is carrying out the program, which is targeting infill and extensions of these high-grade plunging shoots at McTavish East.
The program will also include six diamond tails for 350 metres of NQ2 core to add structural information to the exploration model and provide material for early metallurgical test-work and geotechnical assessment.
Toward maiden resource
CEO Humphrey Hale said: “We are very pleased to be drilling at Kookynie again adding to the high-grade gold zones at McTavish East.
"With this round of drilling, we are targeting the achievement of a maiden resource early in 2024 that will support mining studies.
"We are confident this drilling will show increased continuity of the high-grade shoots and add ounces.”
The drilling in one section of McTavish East, Area A, will be carried out to a density allowing an indicated maiden MRE to be calculated including potential oxide resources.
At this stage, it is designed to outline high-grade resources within 250 metres of surface.
In the adjoining Area B, the company has received substantial high-grade intercepts but this has not been drilled in sufficient density to model the high-grade lodes.
This area will be specifically drilled to test for structurally controlled high-grade shoots that can potentially add ounces to the MRE.
Upcoming work
Since 2021, the prospective McTavish East Prospect trend has been defined over around 2 kilometres with aircore drilling and Carnavale is now further testing the prospect.
In the first quarter of 2024, in addition to the work at areas A and B, further drilling is proposed to test for high-grade mineralisation along strike in areas C and D.
These areas have the potential for concealed, high-grade mineralisation indicated by the anomalous gold results in previously received aircore results.
Goal in Kookynie area
Carnavale’s goal in the Kookynie area is to explore and define high-grade, truckable resources, of a similar size to the historic Cosmopolitan Mine that can be processed at an existing third-party nearby processing plant.
McTavish East is 15 kilometres from Genesis Minerals (ASX:ASX:GMD)’ Ulysses Project and 63 kilometres from their Gwalia processing plant at Leonora.
Historic high-grade gold production at Cosmopolitan amounted to more than 331,000 ounces of gold at 15 g/t and this was the largest gold producer in the area.