Great Boulder Resources Ltd (ASX:GBR) has kicked off an extensive drilling program of at least 21 kilometres designed to accelerate resource growth at the flagship Side Well Gold Project near Meekatharra in Western Australia.
This multi-faceted exploration campaign has been designed to rapidly advance Side Well towards the million-ounce gold resource target.
The more than 21,000 metres of drilling is due to be completed by December 2024 ahead of a revised mineral resource estimate (MRE) for Side Well at year’s end.
On track to deliver million ounces
Great Boulder managing director Andrew Paterson said: “With the pipeline of prospects we have at Side Well, plus the current 668,000-ounce mineral resource I’m confident we have more than enough targets to achieve our ambition to deliver a resource of at least 1 million ounces of gold at Side Well.
“The Side Well hydrothermal gold system now spans more than 18 kilometres, a massive area which includes intrusive-related and orogenic gold targets.
"With that in mind we’ve designed a series of drilling programs to test new targets to the south, grow the Mulga Bill resource to the north, deliver new discoveries into the resource inventory and also upgrade resources from the JORC inferred category to indicated.
“While that’s underway we will also drill two deep diamond holes into Mulga Bill to test the stacked high-grade veins to a depth of 500 metres below surface.
“This work will be incorporated into a resource update at the end of the year. We’re also anticipating new discoveries coming into the resource inventory next year, with two very exciting large-scale targets at Side Well South which will be drilled in September.”
Auger sampling by GBR over the past two years has defined mineralisation extending more than 18 kilometres from the top end of Ironbark North down to Bourke’s Reward, leading to gold discoveries at Ironbark and Saltbush with many targets yet to be tested.
Side Well planned drilling
At Mulga Bill North, aircore drilling is underway to continue defining high-grade mineralisation identified earlier, situated between 900 metres and 1.5 kilometres north of the Mulga Bill resource. After receiving assay results, the company will design a reverse circulation (RC) program.
At Saltbush, aircore drilling will test a geochemical anomaly spanning 2-kilometres north-northwest from the Saltbush prospect, characterised by arsenic, antimony, and a peak gold value of 15 parts per billion (ppb), indicating possible orogenic gold mineralisation.
Once these programs are complete, the rig will return to Mulga Bill to drill immediately north of the resource, following high-grade intersections from June that included 18 metres at 13.76 g/t gold from 104 metres. This aims to extend the Mulga Bill resource into Mulga Bill North.
An RC program at Mulga Bill will infill areas of inferred mineral resources to upgrade them to the high confidence JORC Indicated category and test extensions of mineralised veins at depth. This includes two RC pre-collars for deep diamond holes.
A diamond rig will mobilise in August to drill two 550-metre-deep holes at Mulga Bill, targeting a series of high-grade veins up to 500 metres below the surface.
A small aircore program is planned for the Matilda prospect, northwest of Mulga Bill, testing an area where Doray Minerals intersected 3 metres at 35.5 g/t gold from 76 metres in July 2020.
The rig will then return to Saltbush for a small RC program to estimate resources on high-grade mineralisation identified so far.
At Side Well South, an initial aircore program will test targets north and south of the historic Golden Bracelet and Bourke’s Reward mining areas, marking GBR's first drilling in this extension of the hydrothermal system hosting Ironbark and Saltbush discoveries further north.
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