Bardoc Gold Ltd (ASX:BDC) has ramped up its strategy to grow inventory at its 100%-owned Bardoc Gold Project near Kalgoorlie, with a major new drilling program underway at the cornerstone Zoroastrian deposit.
The campaign to grow the 530,000 ounces Zoroastrian Resource is part of Bardoc’s two-pronged strategy to grow its total 3.07 million ounces resource in parallel with developing the project.
The major new diamond drilling program underway at Zoroastrian is targeted at growing both the resource and underground ore reserve.
The company also announced that has intersected significant gold mineralisation in both wide-spaced exploration drilling and initial follow-up reverse circulation (RC) drilling at the satellite North Kanowna Star (NKS) Project.
"One of the best assets"
Bardoc Gold chief executive officer Robert Ryan said: “Bardoc is embarking on another chapter of value creation for shareholders with a major drilling program underway, which has the potential to generate significant growth in our inventory and mine life.
“This drilling will take place in parallel with the strong progress we are making towards project development, providing two avenues of value creation for shareholders.
“Zoroastrian is without a doubt one of the best assets in our portfolio, with drilling at the project consistently exceeding expectations.
“The project already has a substantial mineral resource of 530,000 ounces and we see huge potential to significantly increase both the resource and reserve.
“Zoroastrian underground is a key component of our operating plan which, when in full production, generates over $50 million free cash flow per year.
Extending the mine life at Zoroastrian has immense economic benefits for the operation.
Zoroastrian Deposit exploration target
Bardoc Gold has generated an exploration target for the Zoroastrian Deposit, under the JORC 2012 code.
Modelling of the exploration targets is the culmination of detailed work by its geologists utilising field mapping, geophysical and geochemical data.
The size and grade of these targets are based on the well-drilled Blueys South Lode, which comprises Indicated and Inferred material.
Blueys South is part of the Zoroastrian underground mining reserves, comprising 98,000 ounces gold.
The exploration target contains 2.05 million tonnes to 2.50 million tonnes of resource at an average grade ranging from 3.4 to 4.2 g/t gold for a total of 225,000 to 336,000 gold ounces.
Two contained exploration targets have been generated. They are:
- The northern target, a footwall lode to the east of Blueys Lode. It ranges in depth from 220 metres below surface (mbs) to 620mbs; and
- The southern target, about 500 metres south of the proposed underground Zoroastrian Mine and ranges in depth from 30mbs to 450mbs.
The exploration target reported is in addition to existing stated mineral resources for the Zoroastrian Deposit.
"Excited" by North Kanowna Star
Ryan added: “On other fronts, we are excited to report significant progress with exploration at North Kanowna Star.
“From our very first drill campaign at NKS, we have been excited by the scale of the alteration and mineralisation at the project.
“The corridor now extends to over 3 kilometres in length and can be likened to the +1 million ounces Zoroastrian/Excelsior corridor.
“NKS is a long-term exploration project, where we see the opportunity for substantial new resources, which will provide additional mine life to the Bardoc Gold Project.
“With 13 prospect areas showing the potential to become resources in the future, we will utilise all the geological, geophysical and geochemical data we have collected to rank the targets and develop an aggressive follow-up exploration program.”
North Kanowna Star results
The NKS Project contains multiple prospects spread over several strike kilometres.
It is unusual to have such strong gold anomalism over an area of this size and it denotes the area as one of significance in the local geological landscape.
The results are from several prospect areas with the more significant results being:
- 9 metres at 2.45 g/t gold from 61 metres;
- 1 metres at 18.0 g/t from 47 metres;
- 3 metres at 5.63 g/t from 69 meters;
- 1.2 metres at 13.6 g/t from 35.8 metres;
- 13 metres at 1.03 g/t from 26 metres;
- 2.4 metres at 5.53 g/t from 44.4 metres;
- 8 metres at 1.65 g/t from 32 metres;
- 7 metres at 1.45 g/t from 28 metres;
- 1 metre at 2.88 g/t from 43 metres; and
- 3 metres at 1.10 g/t from 32 metres.
Drilling completed this year comprised 4,593 metres of aircore drilling in 98 holes, 6,205 metres of RC drilling in 47 holes and 224 metres of diamond core in three holes, with mineralisation intersected in over 60% of the holes drilled.
Due to the sheer scale of the system, the geology team is currently collating multi-element geochemical data and incorporating these data with the geophysics and logging data from the recent drilling.
This will allow the generation of an integrated geological, geophysical and geochemical model to drive the upcoming exploration programs.
The 100%-owned North Kanowna Star Project is 29 kilometres southeast of Bardoc and has a mineral resource of 32,000 ounces at the Perseverance-Wedge Deposit.
NKS has the potential to emerge as a significant additional source of satellite ore to the broader Bardoc Gold Project development.
Next steps
Resource definition core drilling is set to commence at Zoroastrian.
The drilling is designed to test and potentially upgrade lower confidence material for inclusion into an updated mineral resource estimate and reserves after mining studies are completed.
The company will also be presenting at the Diggers and Dealers at 1:35 pm on Tuesday, August 3.
There will also be a mine site tour on Wednesday, August 4.