Blackham Resources Ltd’s (ASX:BLK) drilling has identified high-grade extensions to the free-milling Williamson deposit at the Lake Way prospect, part of its Wiluna Gold Operation in Western Australia.
Moreover, broad mineralised zones intersected at the Carroll and Prior prospects demonstrate the potential for large gold systems.
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Blackham’s exploration strategy is designed to extend the free-milling mine life to 5 years by targeting new discoveries and progressively converting the current large free-milling 1.3 million gold ounce resource base to reserves.
Williamson latest intercepts and historical intercepts confirm mineralisation south of existing pit design
At Williamson Southern Extensions, shallow high-grade mineralisation has been intersected up to 600 metres south of the planned Williamson pit cutback.
• 11 metres at 11.17 g/t gold from 39 metres including 2 metres at 53.05 g/t gold;
• 6 metres at 9.90 g/t gold from 17 metres; and
• 10 metres at 4.18 g/t gold from 47 metres including 2 metres at 9.37 g/t gold.
Notably, two high-grade zones show potential to be developed as satellite pits with further reserve definition drilling planned.
Carroll and Prior
Blackham’s maiden exploration drill holes along the Carroll-Prior trend intersected mineralisation in multiple discrete zones above an economic 0.6 g/t gold lower cut-off.
These significant intercepts occur within a very broad mineralised envelope, defined at a 0.3 g/t gold lower cut-off, with the potential to economically mine the entire package using bulk open pit techniques.
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Highlight results from Carroll-Prior include:
• 45.5 metres at 0.59 g/t gold from 232 metres;
• 87.12 metres at 0.91 g/t gold from 147 metres; and
• 116 metres at 0.63 g/t gold from 13 metres.
The results indicate the potential for Carroll and Prior to be part of a large-scale mineral system.
Blackham has been awarded a $150,000 grant under the state government’s Exploration Incentive Scheme for further drilling at Carroll– Prior prospects during FY 2019.
Forward Plan
The Lake Way area has had only limited exploration owing to the 3-9 metres of lake sediment cover obscuring lithology and masking obvious geochemical signatures.
The area is a major focus for resource expansion given it contains 6 kilometres of the highly prospective Wiluna Mine sequence and many significant intersections from past drilling.
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Further reserve definition infill drilling is planned at the Williamson satellite deposits and under the Williamson pit ahead of finalising mine designs for the pit cutback, which is expected to begin in mid-2019.
The potential for nearby satellite deposits to be brought quickly into the mine plan will aid mine scheduling and further improve economic efficiencies.