Horizon Minerals Ltd (ASX:HRZ) welcomes the progress being made by Dundas Minerals Ltd (ASX:DUN) at the Windaya Gold Project north of Kalgoorlie in WA with high-grade gold results returned from a drilling program.
Dundas completed its initial slimline reverse circulation (RC) drilling program at the project in December 2023 with strong results from the Aquarius, Capricorn and Scorpio prospects.
This program was designed as an initial test of significant gold in soil sample anomalies returned by Dundas at the Aquarius and Scorpio prospects on November 2, 2023.
READ: Horizon Minerals moves to divest non-core assets to Dundas Minerals
The project tenements are subject to an option agreement with Horizon whereby Dundas Minerals has the option to acquire an 85% joint venture interest.
High-grade results
The drilling program comprised 37 holes for 4,119 metres and a maximum hole depth of 140 metres with 18 holes drilled at the Aquarius prospect, 14 at Scorpio and five at the historic Capricorn deposit.
The latter was carried out to test for a southern extension of the existing deposit.
Results are very encouraging, with a number of high-grade gold intercepts, including:
Aquarius -
- 3 metres at 10.2 g/t gold from 109 metres;
- 2 metres at 6.5 g/t from 70 metres; and
- 1 metre at 5.04 g/t from 49 metres.
Capricorn -
- 3 metres at 9.14 g/t gold from 114 metres;
- 3 metres at 5.3 g/t from 28 metres; and
- 1 metre at 6.6 g/t from 25 metres.
Scorpio -
- 2 metres at 3.2 g/t gold from 9 metres; and
- 1 metre at 6.5 g/t from 49 metres.
Drilling interpretations
At Capricorn, the new drilling confirms and extends the high-grade nature of gold mineralisation and demonstrates that there is potential to expand the existing gold resource to the south.
There is also potential to expand the resource to the north and west, with additional drilling.
Drill holes with the highest-grade intercepts at Aquarius are on the western and eastern ends of the soil gold anomaly, whereas drill holes in the central portion of the anomaly did not return significant gold grades.
This is interpreted to be due to a mafic intrusion that has stoped out or diverted the mineralising structures.
As at Capricorn, Scorpio mineralisation appears to be controlled by shallow east-dipping structures. The similarities between Capricorn and Scorpio prospects, separated by a distance of ~2 kilometres, suggest a single corridor of potential mineralisation that is largely untested by soil sampling or drilling.
Also, the western edge of the Aquarius drilling, that yielded positive results, is within 150 metres of this corridor.
Dundas Minerals, in conjunction with its independent consultants, has started planning the next stage of exploration for the Windanya project and at this stage it is anticipated to begin before the end of the current quarter.
About the option
Horizon's option with Dundas relates to all mineral rights over 16 Prospecting Licences, two Mining Leases and one Mining Lease Application covering 3,230 hectares.
The option will see Dundas pay Horizon a $500,000 non-refundable option fee which consists of:
- $375,000 within five days of signing the option, comprising $125,000 in cash and $250,000 in DUN shares, with the number of shares determined by the 5-day VWAP prior to execution; and
- $125,000 in cash payable on the first 12-month anniversary of the execution date.
Dundas must incur at least $500,000 of on-ground exploration expenditure on the tenements before exercising the option, which has a term of 24 months.
Horizon’s divestment strategy enables it to concentrate on building, exploring and developing its suite of gold assets within proximity to Kalgoorlie.