Lunnon Metals Ltd (ASX:LM8, OTC:LNMLF) has made strong progress towards its goal of developing a shallow, open pit starter mine at the Kambalda Gold and Nickel Project in Western Australia, with the latest round of drilling confirming a near-surface gold system at the Lady Herial prospect.
Results up to 20 metres at 2.44 g/t gold from 12 metres of depth and 7 metres at 6.67 g/t gold from 11 metres have confirmed LM8’s mineralisation model at Lady Herial, while results such as 9 metres at 2.47 g/t gold have confirmed mineralisation stretches to depths of at least 50 metres.
The company also expanded the known gold zone at Lady Herial, with the drill bit producing 3 metres at 2.78 g/t gold from 11 metres, 6 metres at 3.89 g/t gold from 14 metres, and 1 metre at 26.3 g/t gold from 6 metres of depth from outside the current model’s boundary.
The last two results come from about 50 metres along strike to the southwest of the main body of mineralisation, indicating the system could be larger than first thought.
Prolific gold region
While deeper diamond drilling results for Lady Herial are still pending, Lunnon believes it has met its earlier stated goal of defining “near-surface gold mineralisation that may be amenable to open pit mining in the short to medium term while the size and scale of any discovery is more fully investigated, particularly at depth”.
"We are finishing the 2024 year strongly having achieved a number of key milestones,” Lunnon Metals managing director Edmund Ainscough said.
“We kicked off a gold focused program from a standing start, reshaped our staff and costs structures to suit and are now able to report on the successful delivery of our initial objectives for gold in the middle of all-time highs in Australian dollar terms for the commodity.
“The objectives we set ourselves back in March 2024 were by necessity modest, but in no way reflected our underlying confidence that our tenements, in the midst of the prolific St Ives gold camp as they are, can deliver much more.”
Ainscough says the Lunnon team has more than 75 years’ experience in the St Ives Gold Belt, having observed the discovery potential of the area both as senior managers of WMC Resources Ltd and Gold Fields and as invested observers over the last 25 years.
“This discovery record has potentially significant implications for Lunnon Metals’ own 23-square-kilometres of the St Ives belt, so whilst our short term goal continues to be to define all the near surface gold mineralisation at Lady Herial as quickly and efficiently as possible, so that open pit evaluation can commence, we are most definitely keeping a firm eye on the bigger picture and what might be just around the corner or in the next drill hole,” he concluded.
Other drilling results of note from this latest program include:
- 22 metres at 0.68g/t gold from 51 metres; and,
- 6 metres at 1.32g/t gold from surface.
The company also drilled hole FOS24RC_081 below the Prospector’s Pits historical working, producing 1 metre at 2.83 g/t gold from 45 metres of depth, but nearby holes FOS24RC_082 and 083 did not produce results of note, leaving the down-dip extent and orientation of quartz structures in the area a mystery for now.
Successful drilling program
Overall, Lunnon’s drilling results have confirmed the expected boundaries, widths and grades of the mineralised gold system at Lady Herial.
LM8 intends to undertake an updated assessment of the gold mineralisation present at Lady Herial in January next year to confirm the prospect can support economic development.
From there, the company will de-risk the prospect with more drilling and exploration work, providing technical data and drill core for metallurgical testing to expedite the financial assessment and eventual permitting of Lady Herial.
The January assessment will also inform a close-spaced potential “grade control” drilling program over about an 8-metre by 6-metre grid, working toward a mineral resource estimate for the prospect.
With spot gold sitting at A$4,222.93 per ounce as of yesterday, Lunnon Metals is well placed to capitalise on its near-surface gold asset, just a few kilometres from established gold processing infrastructure.