Carnavale Resources Ltd (ASX:CAV) has fielded further strong gold results with bonanza grades up to 84.5 g/t as it heads toward a maiden mineral resource estimate at McTavish East prospect within the Kookynie Gold Project in Western Australia.
Reverse circulation (RC) and diamond drilling completed in December 2023 returned more strong results which CEO Humphrey Hale said had confirmed the continuity of the bonanza grades at McTavish East.
Strong results
This drilling confirmed and infilled significant high-grade plunging gold zones at the prospect, which is about 60 kilometres south of Leonora. Results include:
- 3 metres at 58.54 g/t gold from 97 metres including 2 metres at 84.5 g/t;
- 7 metres at 23.18 g/t from 46 metres including 3 metres at 51.18 g/t;
- 4.6 metres at 24.92 g/t from 112.07 metres including 0.2 metres at 26.4 g/t and 1.25 metres at 69.28 g/t;
- 10 metres at 11.03 g/t from 88 metres including 2 metres at 42.15 g/t;
- 4 metres at 22.68 g/t from 28 metres including 3 metres at 29.77 g/t;
- 5 metres at 15.50 g/t from 63 metres including 2 metres at 26.48 g/t and 1 metre at 20.4 g/t; and
- 1 metre at 47.40 g/t from 24 metres.
Very high-grade plunging shoots have now been defined for 250 metres down dip by close-spaced RC and diamond drilling while new shoots have been defined from isolated high-grade intercepts within the known 700-metre zone with potential to expand.
About the drilling
The drilling comprised a 29-hole, 4,169-metre RC drilling program with an additional seven holes with diamond tails for a further 356.6 metres of NQ2 core that followed up on previous RC drilling programs.
Long section through the main mineralising structure at McTavish East. Highest grade results from recent drilling are in yellow callouts with earlier drilling in blue. Red arrows represent down dip opportunities to extend high-grade mineralisation.
Results from the new close-spaced drilling have confirmed the continuity of the high-grade mineralisation and will be used to create a maiden resource estimate, which will form the basis of economic studies into open pit and underground mining scenarios.
The highest-grade zone with bonanza-grade gold mineralisation extends down dip for 250 metres and remains open at depth.
“Gives the company confidence”
CEO Humphrey Hale said: “This gives the company confidence to commission a maiden resource estimate and economic studies to evaluate potential mining scenarios.
"We are very excited about the additional exploration opportunities along strike and have commenced an exploration program to explore this fertile zone for additional high-grade shoots with aircore and RC [drilling].”
Carnavale has also completed fieldwork for an initial geotechnical review that will be used to inform mining studies.
Initial metallurgical test-work on oxide and fresh rock samples undertaken by the company was very encouraging with recoveries ranging between 97% and 99%.
Further, more detailed metallurgical test-work has been commissioned to evaluate the gold recoveries and reagent consumption from the mineralisation.
Shallow RC drilling
The company is excited about the further exploration potential of the Kookynie Gold Project area and has started a program of exploration north of the McTavish East prospect, including RC and aircore drilling.
Shallow RC drilling has started with 12 holes focused on new targets along the main mineralising structure including Champion South and anomalies already defined by aircore drilling to test for high-grade shoots along strike.
A program of about 5,500 metres of aircore drilling has been planned to follow on from the RC program and is designed to test structural and geochemical anomalies within the Kookynie Gold Project using pathfinder geochemistry and structural analysis derived from the McTavish East discovery.
Carnavale’s goal is to discover high-grade, truckable resources, of a similar size to the historic Cosmopolitan Mine that can be processed at an existing third-party nearby processing plant.
McTavish East is 15 kilometres from Genesis Minerals (ASX:GMD)’ Ulysses Project and 63 kilometres from their Gwalia processing plant at Leonora.
Main image: Orientated diamond core with mineralisation in quartz veining.