At a time of very high gold prices, Rumble Resources Ltd (ASX:RTR, OTC:RTRFF) will revisit the Western Queen Gold Project in Western Australia and plans to begin drilling to test the continuity of multiple high-grade zones beneath the Western Queen South and Western Queen Central deposits.
Previous drilling by Rumble and the project’s previous owners demonstrated that high-grade gold occurs as moderately south plunging systems with scope to extend to significant depths which may be amenable to underground mining.
Diamond drilling
Initially the company will undertake a diamond drill program focused on the high-grade south plunging 'core' zone of the Western Queen South deposit, which has historically been drilled to a maximum vertical depth of only 250 metres.
Rumble intends to then test other potential high-grade shoots along the currently defined 2.7-kilometre strike within tenements M59/45 and M59/208 with an initial focus on the Western Queen Central area.
The decision to drill at Western Queen comes following a significant increase in the price of gold coupled with the latest drilling success by Spartan Resources on the Never Never deposit at Dalgaranga Gold Project, 40 kilometres south of Western Queen.
“Surge in gold price”
Rumble managing director and CEO Peter Harold said: “Whilst Rumble is primarily focused on progressing the potentially world-class Earaheedy Zinc-Lead Project, there is an opportunity to revisit the high-grade, gold deposits at the Western Queen Project following the surge in the price of gold which in A$ terms is up a staggering 60% since the last drill program was undertaken at Western Queen in 2021.
"Given the nature of the deposits at Western Queen, the historical production of 215,000 ounces and the existing resource of 163,000 ounces, the proximity to gold ore processing plants and the strong gold price environment it makes sense for the company to focus exploration activities at Western Queen.
"We look forward to getting back on the ground at Western Queen as soon as practical with planning for the proposed drilling program already well advanced."
Location plan of the Western Queen Gold Project in Western Australia.
Bid to add resources
Gold mineralisation at Western Queen has been defined over about 2.7 kilometres and is associated with a large-scale structural flexure within the regionally extensive auriferous Western Queen Shear Zone (WQSZ).
The Western Queen mineral resource stands at 2.1 million tonnes at 2.42 g/t gold for 163,200 ounces while combined historic open pit and underground production from the Western Queen Central and Western Queen South deposits was 880,000 tonnes at 7.6 g/t for 215,000 ounces gold.
Previous exploration and resource definition drilling by Rumble focused on economic gold mineralisation amenable to open pit mining with limited drilling testing the continuity of the high-grade zones underground mineralisation.
The previous drilling at Western Queen South intersected multiple, high-grade intervals including:
- 5 metres at 38.76 g/t gold from 193 metres;
- 3 metres at 5.68 g/t from 210 metres; and
- 17 metres at 5.70 g/t from 221 metres.
High-grade gold zones have developed as moderate south plunging systems within the main WQSZ.