Five years after discovering the “exceptional high-grade” Iris Zone, Catalyst Metals Ltd (ASX:CYL) has proven the economics of the Four Eagles Gold Project in central Victoria by delivering a maiden resource estimate (MRE) of 665,000 tonnes at 7.7 g/t for 163,000 ounces of gold.
The maiden MRE comprises 70,000 ounces of gold at 26.2 g/t at Iris and 20,000 ounces at 5.0 g/t at Boyd's Dam.
Notably, Four Eagles’ total indicated resource amounts to 455,000 tonnes at 5.0 g/t gold for 73,000 ounces and 210,000 tonnes at 13.4 g/t gold for 91,000 ounces in the inferred category.
Four Eagles' 2023 JORC-compliant MRE.
Just the beginning
Catalyst drilled its first meaningful intersection at Iris in 2018 but it was not until last year when a diamond drilling program consistently delivered high-grade hits that it truly recognised the significance of the initial discovery.
Prior to Iris, Boyd’s Dam had been the primary focus of the Four Eagles Gold Project for several years.
Iris’ discovery and its structural relationship with Boyd’s Dam, just 100 metres above, has provided proof that Four Eagles contains the same mineralisation stacking as the historical 22-million-ounce Bendigo Goldfields, where high-grade mineralised zones are repeated at depth.
This means that Four Eagles’ other gold prospects such as Hayanmi, Pickles, Cunneens, Eagle 5 and Bullock have the potential to generate similar results to Iris.
Four Eagles showing significant gold occurrences in drilling to date.
Cause for celebrations
Catalyst managing director and chief executive officer James Champion de Crespigny said: “This is a significant milestone for Catalyst Metals. The discovery of the Iris Zone demonstrates the true potential of the Bendigo Goldfields.
“Iris has been known for a long time. There are many similar nearby prospects already with high-grade intercepts. These need to be tested.
“Further, the location of Iris – in close proximity to both Boyd’s Dam and the proposed exploration tunnel – is significant as it has the potential to underwrite the cost of the proposed exploration tunnel.
“I’m sure many of Catalyst’s long-standing shareholders would join me congratulating my fellow director Bruce Kay and his team within Catalyst on this wonderful discovery.”
About Four Eagles
Situated along the Whitelaw Gold Corridor, the project is 70 kilometres north of the historic Bendigo Goldfield and is considered a major structural control of gold mineralisation north of Bendigo.
In Victoria, Catalyst manages the entire Whitelaw Gold Belt and has 12 exploration licences and two retention licences, which extend for 75 kilometres along the Whitelaw and Tandarra Faults north of Bendigo and in other areas north of the Fosterville and Inglewood goldfields.
To date, exploration at Whitelaw to the north of Bendigo has demonstrated similarities to the Bendigo Goldfield such as visible gold in quartz, high-grade gold assays, strong arsenic haloes, and close relationships with host rock fold hinges.
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