Great Boulder Resources Ltd (ASX:GBR) welcomes shallow high-grade gold results from recent drilling at Saltbush prospect within the flagship Side Well Gold Project near Meekatharra in Western Australia.
A small maiden RC drill program at Saltbush confirmed high-grade gold not far from a high-grade intersection in historic RC drilling.
Great Boulder drilled five RC holes for 530 metres, along with five aircore holes for 285 metres at Saltbush in the week before Christmas, having received final heritage clearances in mid-December for surveys conducted over the 14-kilometre Ironbark corridor earlier in the year.
The RC holes cover a strike spanning 160 metres along the line of shallow historic shafts. Assays from those RC drill holes have now confirmed high-grade gold mineralisation at Saltbush with a shallow intersection of 9 metres at 5.20 g/t gold from 15 metres in drill hole 23SBRC002.
This hole was designed to confirm an intersection in the historic hole (SJPRC002) drilled by Esso Exploration in 1986 of 3 metres at 7.42 g/t gold from 14 metres.
Great Boulder’s drill hole, collared about 20 metres west of the historic hole, intersected a broader zone of mineralisation at a similar depth, which may reflect supergene dispersion of gold mineralisation within the weathering profile.
Cross-section of 23SBRC002 and the 1986 Esso RC hole SJPRC002.
This drilling indicates Saltbush is in a similar geological setting to the Ironbark deposit (100,000 ounces at 3.3 g/t gold), with Saltbush being just one of many untested prospects along the more than 14-kilometre Ironbark corridor.
The company expects to receive assays for the aircore drilled prior to Christmas within the next few weeks. Aircore drilling resumed at Saltbush on January 14, 2024, with approximately 5,000 metres planned in the current program.
Lot of newsflow anticipated
Great Boulder managing director Andrew Paterson said: “We have been looking forward to drilling the Saltbush prospect for a long time, since we first took rock chip samples there in October 2022 and then found the nearby Esso RC drilling recorded in an old annual report from 1986.
“As a result, it’s exciting to get confirmation of high-grade, shallow gold mineralisation in our second hole.
“We now have an aircore drilling program underway in the same area, with 5,000 metres planned before we take a break to compile results and plan the next stage of drill testing.
“There are a lot of highly prospective targets along the Ironbark corridor so we’re anticipating a lot of new news flow in the coming months.”
Looking ahead
The company’s geological team will continue compiling drilling and assay information as the program continues. First-pass aircore coverage has been planned in programs of around 5,000 metres with intervals in between each program to allow time for assay compilation and target reviews.
Great Boulder will conduct this work in parallel with ongoing field mapping, target generation on new project areas and heritage surveys.
Additional RC drilling will also be planned for Saltbush to test mineralisation at depth and confirm the dip, strike and continuity of the prospect.
Plan view of the Saltbush Prospect showing RC collars, old workings and recent aircore drilling to the northwest.