Riversgold Ltd (ASX:RGL) has completed its latest round of aircore drilling as the company continues to expand the gold mineralised footprint at the Northern Zone Intrusive Hosted Gold Project, 25 kilometres from the Kalgoorlie Super Pit in Western Australia.
The company completed 26 drill holes for 1,545 metres of drilling and samples have been submitted to the laboratory for gold assay.
This program was designed to follow up on the previous drill program, which featured results such as 58.09 g/t gold within an intercept of 5 metres at 12.27 g/t gold — the highest-grade interval to date from shallow drilling at Northern Zone.
Read more: Riversgold further expands gold footprint at Northern Zone Intrusive Hosted Gold Project
Mineralisation report underway
Additionally, a mineralisation report is underway and Riversgold intends to submit an application for a mining lease shortly.
“Northern Zone progress continues and I look forward to the next round of assays, as well as completion of the mineralisation report and application for a mining lease, so we can advance the project more quickly as we continue to see significant mineralised intercepts over an increasing porphyry footprint,” Riversgold chair David Lenigas said.
“The more recent set of significant high-grade gold assays at Northern Zone have continued to expand the gold mineralised footprint of the porphyry over a much larger area than originally thought and it has confirmed the presence of a significant gold mineralised system, that is located just 25 kilometres east of Kalgoorlie, Western Australia, with all of the benefits of being brilliantly located to excellent roads and infrastructure.”
A benchmark for aspirations
Rivesrsgold says that it draws conceptual parallels between its Northern Zone Project and Saturn Metals’ Apollo Hill Project, which is 175 kilometres due north of Northern Zone. The company notes similarities based on Saturn Metals’ PEA statement, which suggests the potential for a sizeable low-grade heap leach operation.
With a resource estimate of 105 million tonnes at 0.54 g/t gold, totalling 1.839 million ounces, this development serves as a benchmark for Riversgold’s aspirations at Northern Zone, albeit with the potential for Northern Zone to be an even larger project.
Supportive gold price
Renewed US dollar strength, to a new four-month high, following the US election has put a dampener on the Australian dollar gold price. Gold, as a safe haven asset, also fell following the removal of uncertainty after the uncontested election result.
However, markets are expecting a modest 25 basis point rate cut when the US Federal Reserve meets this week, which could provide support for gold since lower interest rates reduce the opportunity cost of holding non-interest-bearing assets.
Lenigas said, “The Australian dollar gold price has passed $4,000/ounce recently and hovers around this mark, which bodes well for the project, something the board was hopeful of when it embarked on this journey.”