Riversgold Ltd (ASX:RGL) has begun a reverse circulation (RC) drilling program at its Northern Zone Gold Project, 25 kilometres east of Kalgoorlie in the heart of Western Australia's Goldfields.
The drilling is progressing well, with four holes totalling 700 metres already completed.
Riversgold is prosecuting the campaign with a view to delivering a maiden gold mineral resource estimate.
Porphyry-hosted gold
The gold mineralisation at Northern Zone is hosted in a porphyry intrusion, with drilled widths exceeding 100 metres in true width.
In addition to the RC drilling, aircore drilling is also underway at the Northern Zone Project, where 11 holes, amounting to 783 metres, have been completed so far.
The aircore drilling is designed to test the project for supergene gold, which is gold that has been chemically or mechanically transported and re-deposited near the surface.
The Northern Zone Project has an exploration target of 200 to 250 million tonnes at a grade of 0.4 to 0.6 g/t gold, translating to a potential 2.5 to 4.8 million ounces of gold.
Topdrill is conducting the RC drilling, while Australian Aircore Drilling is undertaking the aircore drilling.
The Northern Zone Project is conceptually compared to Saturn Metals Limited’s Apollo Hill Gold Project, which is 175 kilometres to the north.
Apollo Hill has a resource estimate of 105 million tonnes at 0.54 g/t gold, totalling 1.839 million ounces.
An even larger project
Riversgold sees potential for Northern Zone to be an even larger project, possibly supporting a sizeable low-grade heap leach operation.
On May 9, Riversgold announced an 80% earn-in to the Northern Zone Gold Project with London-listed Oracle Power PLC (LON:ORCP).
As part of this agreement, Riversgold completed a four-hole diamond drill program totalling 1,379 metres, including oriented core, to evaluate the exploration model of over 100 metres wide gold mineralisation.
Results from this drilling validated the original mineralisation model, confirming the style, widths and grades of the gold mineralisation.
RGL chair David Lenigas said: “Drilling is now well underway with the RC drilling and aircore drilling progressing well towards our target of a maiden JORC resource estimation in the coming months.
“The Northern Zone Gold Project, located just to the east of Kalgoorlie, has a substantial gold exploration target centred around a large porphyry gold system proven to exceed +100 metres in true width from previous drilling; we eagerly anticipate the results of this program.”