Nelson Resources Ltd (ASX:NES) has intersected 500 metres of bedrock gold-bearing strike during initial sighter drilling at Grindall within the Woodline project in Western Australia's Fraser Range.
This has been identified along the defined 20-kilometre geochemical anomaly and shear zone interpreted from geophysics.
Grades are well above background and indicate the presence of a potentially large gold-bearing system with the drilling also indicating that the mineralisation remains open at depth and along strike.
Drilling expanded
Importantly, results so far are only from the first few drill holes that were targeted to test a small section of the 20-kilometre shear zone and have successfully shown that the shear is mineralised.
Due to the effectiveness of the targeting methodology, the company will increase its current 6,000-metre reverse circulation (RC) program to around 10,000 metres to continue to test the 20-kilometre geochem anomaly.
The company anticipates continued improvement in its targeting at Grindall where it is now able to directly target the gold-bearing structure along the shear.
Targeting methodology effective
Executive director and CEO Adam Schofield said: “Nelson’s targeting methodology has proven to be an effective way for us to identify and then test gold-bearing zones within the 20-kilometre-long gold geochemical anomaly we have at the Woodline Project.
“This targeting will produce many new targets within our substantial land package.
“Due to this success, we have added an additional 680 square kilometres of highly prospective new tenure proximal to the Woodline project.
“The combined tenure now includes four large fault zones.
"Due to the initial success at Grindall we are now considering an additional 4,000 metres of drilling in the current campaign to really test the gold-bearing structures’ dip and strike.”
Drilling results
Results include:
- 9 metres at 0.41 g/t gold from 81 metres, including 9 metres at 1.13 g/t from 82.1 metres and 1-metre at 1.14 g/t from 87 metres;
- 2 metres at 0.25 g/t from 127 metres and 1-metre at 0.38 g/t from 130.6 metres; and
- 3 metres at 0.30 g/t from 91 metres, 2 metres at 0.43 g/t from 101 metres and 2 metres at 0.70 g/t from 108 metres.
Nelson is encouraged by the initial drilling results and ongoing exploration at Grindall will now shift to the northeast of the project area, where a surface geochemical anomaly of greater than 50 ppb gold is coincident with the interpreted geophysics position of the mineralised shear zone that has been intersected.
Drilling up to 50,000 metres before year-end
Schofield continued: “We are also looking forward to completing drilling at Redmill where we have a 2.5-kilometre geological structure to test.
“The first diamond drilling conducted at Socrates is nearing completion and we are particularly excited to receive these results.
“This will give us important structural information at the Socrates project where we intend to start defining a gold resource shortly.
“In the last quarter, the company has had several logistical issues with the large amount of rain received over a sustained six-to-eight-week period restricting the delivery of fuel and water to our drilling operations.
“This has now been resolved with a track remediation work and ongoing maintenance program in place. This will allow for year-round access to the Woodline project.
“The company anticipates being able to potentially drill up to 50,000 metres of RC before year-end on its projects whilst subsidising its operations with a number of short-term external drilling contracts.”
Tenement applications
Nelson has made applications for four new tenements to the northeast of the existing Woodline tenure.
The location for the new tenement applications was selected following first-pass logging of the diamond drill core and the company’s interpretation of the potential extensions of the mineralised structures.
These new tenement applications include large inflections in the target structures, which the company considers to be an important aspect for targeting.