Carnavale Resources Ltd (ASX:CAV) has completed the first program of reverse circulation (RC) drilling at Carnage prospect, part of the Ora Banda South Gold Project in WA.
The campaign follows up on what CAV calls excellent high-grade gold results from aircore drilling it conducted in the regolith, which confirmed the prospectivity of the Carnage Shear along the 15-kilometre-long tenement package.
New gold prospects
Three new gold prospects were identified in CAV’s earlier aircore drilling that contain high-grade gold intercepts.
This first RC drilling program has been designed to target the substantial anomaly at the Carnage prospect.
Previous significant results from CAV aircore drilling at prospect include:
- 4 metres at 30.20 g/t gold from 44 metres;
- 7 metres at 5.95 g/t from 80 metres (ends in mineralisation);
- 8 metres at 2.74 g/t from 48 metres;
- 4 metres at 2.69 g/t from 36 metres;
- 12 metres at 0.43 g/t from 44 metres; and
- 12 metres at 0.33 g/t from 40 metres.
The program took in nine holes of wide-spaced RC drilling for 1,841 metres targeting the 2.1-kilometre strike extent.
CAV reckons there is favourable geology to host a significant gold deposit, with major shear structures cross-cutting a sedimentary basin with an identified felsic intrusion that correlates to a substantial regolith gold anomaly identified during the aircore program.
Geochemistry looks promising
Prospective geochemistry in arsenic, tin, tungsten and bismuth that correlates with the best gold anomalism suggests an intrusion-related source for the gold system.
The best gold anomalism identified in the saprock profile at the Carnage prospect is overlain by a significant gold anomaly in the transported material, interpreted to be derived from the local, primary bedrock gold source.
This geological setting is promising, being analogous to the 2.5-million-ounce at +4 g/t Invincible Gold Mine discovered by Gold Fields Ltd near Kambalda in 2012.
Results are expected in January 2023.
CEO Humphrey Hale said: “CAV returned to the Ora Banda Gold Project to drill test the substantial gold anomaly at the Carnage Prospect.
“This is the very first RC drilling that has been done at Carnage.
“The RC program is wide-spaced on 100-metre by 200-metre centres as a first-pass program.
“The excellent CAV aircore programs defined a substantial gold anomaly with associated shears and a newly mapped intrusion. The drilling confirmed the geological interpretation defined by the aircore and geophysics.
“We are looking forward to receiving the results in January.”