Great Southern Mining Ltd (ASX:GSN) has started an extensive reverse circulation (RC) and diamond drill program at its high-grade Cox’s Find Gold Project in Western Australia.
This program is aimed at building on recent drilling success at the former gold mine which had historical production of 107,000 tonnes at an average grade of 22 g/t.
Standout recent RC results include: 8 metres at 9.43 g/t from 73 metres, including 1-metre at 44 g/t; 2 metres at 36 g/t from 146 metres, including 1-metre at 68 g/t; 5 metres at 14.54 g/t from 140 metres, including 2 metres at 28.85 g/t; and 5 metres at 31.23 g/t from 134 metres, including 1-metre at 143.0 g/t.
Two phases
The drilling program will be carried out in two phases with the first of around 5,000 metres of RC drilling and 500 metres of diamond core drilling focusing on delineating the extent of high-grade mineralisation identified previously.
Phase two will consist of 4000 metres of RC drilling focusing on several near-mine untested geological ‘look-alike’ targets.
The RC drill rig is on-site and has started drilling the initial phase of the 9,000-metre drilling program, while the diamond drill rig is expected to arrive on-site within a week.
Between these two phases, a 3000-metre drill program will be undertaken at its Mon Ami Gold Project, 80 kilometres to the south and 12 kilometres from Laverton, WA.
Potential underground development
GSN chief operating officer Mark Major said: “This is an extremely high-grade deposit and has all the hallmarks of a potential modern-day underground development.
“This will be the first intensive drill program targeting the down plunge extensions of the deposit and the first diamond drill program targeting the high-grade lode.
"The program should enhance our structural understanding of the deposit and assist with advancing the forthcoming drill programs at the Cox’s Find deposit and support targeting repeat structures within our tenure.”
Shares have been as much as 18% higher to 10 cents intra-day.
Along strike from Garden Well
The Cox’s Find Project is a shear hosted Archaean orogenic gold deposit in the Duketon Greenstone Belt in the Laverton district, along strike from, and within 12 kilometres of, Regis Resources Limited (ASX:RRL) multi-million ounce Garden Well project.
The mine, which was operated by Western Mining Corporation (WMC) between 1937 and 1942, produced around 77,000 ounces of gold at a reported head grade of around 22 g/t from a vein stope operation.
Limited exploration has been conducted on the project since the cessation of mining activities in the early 1940s.
In late 2019, GSN completed its maiden RC drilling program of 17 holes for 2,658 metres.