Carnavale Resources Ltd (ASX:CAV) has kickstarted a reverse circulation (RC) drilling campaign over the Kookynie Gold Project in Western Australia’s Goldfields.
The two-week, 2,800-metre-plus program will initially turn the soil on the McTavish East prospect, where Carnavale recently encountered the highest gold grades in the project area.
Specifically, RC rigs will test at depth and along strike from bonanza and shallow, high-grade gold fielded during an aircore campaign in July.
In addition, Carnavale will target a mineralised zone that runs for 550 metres of strike, which remains open to the northeast and at depth.
Unlocking high-grade potential
Speaking to the project’s commencement, Carnavale CEO Humphrey Hale said: “The Kookynie district is famous for historic high-grade gold production."
“We are very excited to have discovered a new gold zone with bonanza grades undercover at Kookynie with aircore drilling," he said.
“Now we have begun to drill deeper with RC to unlock the high-grade gold potential at depth.
Drilling begins
Carnavale's latest expedition at Kookynie will first centre on the prospective gold ground at McTavish East, where the third round of aircore drilling results recently returned high-grade and bonanza intersections.
Some of the best assays included:
- 4 metres at 31.08 g/t gold from 96 metres and ending in mineralisation;
- 2 metres at 32.5 g/t from 18 metres;
- 8 metres at 4.06 g/t from 20 metres, including 2 metres at 15.6 g/t;
- 12 metres at 3.37 g/t from 50 metres;
- 6 metres at 2.09 g/t from 82 metres; and
- 8 metres at 1.02 g/t from 52 metres, including 4 metres at 1.76 g/t.
As a result, aircore drilling was extended along strike from the original anomaly to the northeast, expanding the footprint of gold mineralisation prior to the planned RC drilling.
What’s more, recent aircore activity has extended the mineralised zone by over 100 metres to the northeast, where it remains open.
CAV intends to follow up this initial phase of RC drilling at McTavish East and further explore the high-grade gold discovered at McTavish North once the initial results have been received and interpreted.
