Source : THE AGE NEWS
Broken Hill Gold has doubled its regional exploration footprint in South Australia to more than 1500 square kilometres after successfully winning tenders for two new exploration licences that host a pair of historic high-grade goldfields.
The company’s new ground sits just 50km from its flagship White Dam gold project and takes in the historic Manna Hill and Waukaringa goldfields, where old-timers chased some mouth-watering grades during their late-1800s heyday.
The Manna Hill goldfield stretches over seven kilometres of strike, with records showing it produced 3400 ounces of gold at a hefty 18 grams per tonne (g/t). The nearby Waukaringa goldfield looks even sweeter, with archives revealing it churned out 45,000 ounces of gold at a stunning 23g/t from a 5km strike littered with historical workings and shafts.
What makes the opportunity particularly compelling is the lack of modern exploration. According to the company, a review of historical data shows that while some work was done between the 1950’s and 2015, no modern drilling has been conducted on the main goldfields since the 1990’s.
‘(This) materially adds to our current exploration portfolio with walk-up drill targets on historic goldfields with no modern exploration.’
Broken Hill Gold managing director Matthew Boyes
The acquisition of the two exploration licence applications covers a combined 751 square kilometres and represents a significant strategic consolidation for the company around its White Dam operations base and one management believes holds clear potential for future oxide and sulphide gold ore to feed its existing plant.
Broken Hill Gold managing director Matthew Boyes said: “This tenure is very prospective and materially adds to our current exploration portfolio with walk-up drill targets on historic goldfields with no modern exploration.”
With the ground now secured, Broken Hill Gold plans to hit the ground running. The company says field mapping, sampling and geophysics will kick off as soon as the licences are granted in the fourth quarter of this year, with a view to getting the drill rigs turning in the first quarter of 2027.
The expansion comes as Broken Hill Gold continues to build momentum across its existing White Dam project, which is rapidly shaping up as a potentially much larger copper-gold system in one of the country’s hottest addresses for red metal exploration.
Recent drilling at Icebreaker delivered a standout 28m at 2.4g/t gold and 0.7 per cent copper from 93m, including a richer 16m at 3.5g/t gold and 0.9 per cent copper, with the emerging sulphide system remaining open at depth and along strike.
The company then turned up the heat at Vertigo, where a major infill and resource-expansion campaign recently drove a hefty 160 per cent jump in the indicated oxide gold resource.
One of the historical open pits at the company’s White Dam gold project now hosts a total indicated and inferred resource of 2.3 million tonnes at 0.74g/t gold for 54,795 ounces, a 43 per cent increase on its 2020 estimate. Importantly, the higher-confidence indicated component has grown to 1.43Mt at 0.53g/t for 24,300 ounces, with the mineralisation either outcropping or sitting shallow and easy to mine beneath an existing mining lease.
Drilling is now back underway at Vertigo chasing the deposit down-dip, with the rigs set to return to Icebreaker in October following recently completed induced polarisation (IP) and magnetic geophysics designed to sharpen up the next round of targets. Announcements (5)
At Manna Hill and Waukaringa, with historic grades of 18g/t and 23g/t gold, the old-timers were clearly onto something special back in the day. Now unencumbered after years of legal disputes, this ground presents a tantalising opportunity to apply modern exploration techniques.
For a newly motivated explorer, picking up tenure with that kind of historical pedigree and several walk-up drill targets is rare. Come early next year, Broken Hill Gold will get its first chance in a generation to see just what the old-timers left behind.
Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact: mattbirney@bullsnbears.com.au
