Surefire Resources NL (ASX:SRN) has identified a series of significant gold anomalies at its 100%-owned Kadji Gold Project in Western Australia’s mid-west, reigniting interest in the underexplored Koolanooka Greenstone Belt.
Kadji sits in a region attracting growing exploration interest.Chalice Mining Ltd (ASX:CHN, OTCQB:CGMLF) holds tenements to the west and north, where new greenstone belt interpretations suggest potential for Boddington-style gold systems. Heavy Rare Earths Ltd (ASX:HRE) is exploring to the east for uranium and heavy rare earth mineralisation.
The company says the results confirm strong potential for orogenic gold mineralisation across the project area, where previous explorers — including Anaconda, BHP, CRA and Sons of Gwalia — reported highly anomalous gold results but never followed them up due to weaker gold prices at the time.
Location map of Kadji Gold Project.
Untapped potential across the Koolanooka Belt
Surefire’s Kadji tenements cover a sheared mafic and ultramafic package within the Yilgarn Craton, a geological setting known to host major gold systems. While the company is also advancing a significant magnetite deposit within the same project area, the surrounding ground has seen little modern gold exploration.
Combined soil Au anomalies at Kadji.
Historic work uncovered multiple indicators of a large gold system, including:
- BLEG soil assays up to 1 g/t gold recorded by BHP in the 1980s.
- Soil anomalies with coincident gold, arsenic and antimony readings up to 300 parts per billion (ppb) Au, 500 ppm Sb and 400 ppm As.
- Reverse circulation drilling results from Anaconda including 2 metres at 2.15 g/t Au (PC01), 1 metre at 11.6 g/t Au (PC05), and 28 metres at 0.72 g/t Au including 4 metres at 1.24 g/t Au (PC16).
- High-grade rock samples by Sons of Gwalia in the early 1990s grading up to 8.05 g/t Au, and channel samples by Hunter Exploration returning 33 metres at 0.21 g/t Au and 30 metres at 0.22 g/t Au.
Targets for follow up BLEG gold results and soil pathfinder element anomalies over magnetics.
“With gold prices at exceptional levels, it is important that we rigorously assess our project tenure for any gold anomalies,” said Surefire managing director Paul Burton.
“It is very encouraging to have these historic gold results, which surprisingly have never been followed up,” he added. “The tenor of the results is very high, and we are excited about defining drill targets and seeing the scale of any mineralisation. This provides yet another gold project for Surefire to focus on, and I look forward to bringing updates to shareholders as the exploration programmes advance.”
Next steps
Surefire has prioritised several gold anomalies for immediate follow-up work on E70/5572, including detailed soil grids over historical BLEG results to refine drill targets. Additional work on E70/5311 — where gold intercepts, rock chips, and channel sampling extend over a 5-kilometre trend — will include a combined program of geophysics, mapping, soil sampling, and drilling.
Rock chip and drilling gold results on geology.
The company said the newly compiled dataset underscores Kadji’s potential as another key gold focus within its growing exploration portfolio.