Southern Gold Ltd (ASX:SAU) has launched a diamond drilling program at its recently-pegged Goseong copper-gold project in South Korea.
Four holes — totalling 900 metres — will be drilled, two of which will test potential shoots beneath the historical Goseong mine. Previous field work has identified extensive workings to the north-west and south-west of the mine, while assay results from underground areas and mine dumps returned up to 5% copper and 3.4% gold.
Since earlier mining did not extend beneath the valley floor, Southern Gold believes there is an opportunity to find new depth extensions and sub-parallel lodes.
Another hole has been planned for Goseong’s Daedok prospect, which was previously mined for roughly 300 metres over two levels.
The final hole will test the Bupo prospect, where earlier surveys identified a possible intrusion at depth.
Newly expanded portfolio
Southern Gold acquired the Goseong project in September last year as part of a project generation program.
It sits within the Goseong mining district, which was South Korea’s primary copper-producing region from 1915 to 1945 and from 1970 to 1992, with roughly 11 small-scale underground mines.
Southern Gold staked 25 licence applications covering roughly 70 square kilometres and three historical mines, consisting of vein systems up to a metre wide and 800 metres long.
Shortly after the acquisition, a comprehensive field program was launched — including a drone magnetic survey and soil sampling — the results of which form the basis of the new drilling program.
Those rock chip samples returned assays up to 18.7 grams per tonne (g/t) gold, 220 g/t silver and 5.01% copper.
Successful drilling at Deokon
Drilling work at Deokon completed three holes, totalling 721.2 metres. A fourth hole has been deferred due to nearby pastoral activity and will be completed at a later date.
Two holes tested along-strike extensions of the main Deokon mine, with the other completed last week at the Thorn-Nettle target.
“We are very pleased with the completion of drilling at Deokon, and I look forward to receiving assay results later this month,” Southern Gold managing director Robert Smillie said.
“The (Southern Gold) team has done a great job to continue the drilling momentum by advancing our new Goseong (copper-gold) project to drilling status since pegging the ground in September last year.”