Vango Mining Ltd (ASX:VAN) has received encouraging gold assays from yet another open pit at its flagship Marymia Gold Project in WA’s Mid-West region.
The gold explorer and project developer unveiled results from its Ibis target, where five holes were drilled in a bid to define extensions to historical gold results.
Promisingly, four of the holes returned gold intercepts greater than 1 g/t, often within broader mineralised envelopes that averaged more than 0.3 g/t.
Ibis represents the fifth of 11 open pits in Vango’s current drilling campaign, all of which have been explored under the current program.
Assays have since been reported for five of the pits, with results from the Prickleys property unveiled in early November.
Ibis drilling results
As it works to unlock the further potential of its Marymia property, Vango has designed an extensive drilling campaign that will look for depth extensions to previously reported gold hits.
At the Ibis target, assays ultimately confirm the continuity of mineralised structures below the open pit.
They also extend the gold mineralisation to a greater depth than previously tested.
Highlights include:
- 7 metres at 0.7 g/t gold from 72 metres, including 2 metres at 1.3 g/t from 77 metres;
- 2 metres at 2.1 g/t from 87 metres;
- 1-metre at 1 g/t from 108 metres;
- 1-metre at 1.6 g/t from 89 metres; and
- 5 metres at 0.5 g/t from 71 metres, 1-metre at 1.3 g/t from 71 metres and 1-metre at 1.5 g/t from 75 metres.
In summary, mineralisation at Ibis sits within steep mineralised shears, which are partially controlled by the contact between a felsic intrusive and mafics.
These structures returned multiple high-grade gold intercepts of up to 27.7 g/t during in historical campaigns outside the current mining area.
Moving ahead, the results from the Ibis open-pit will be reviewed to establish their potential to deliver additional economic resources to the Marymia resource base.
Vango will press ahead with further drilling if it believes it’s a viable route.
Forward work program
With 11 open pits on Vango’s radar, the explorer is determined to add further gold ounces to Marymia’s resource base.
A stronger mineral resource could also someday support a standalone mining operation at the asset, which could be a company maker.
Drilling across all 11 open pits, covering just under 9,000 metres and 56 holes, is now complete.
Results from the first phase of drilling at the Skyhawk, Parrot, Apollo, Prickleys and Ibis pits have been reported, while assays are anticipated for the remaining six targets.
So far, Vango has completed second phase drilling at two of the 11 priority open-pits — the Skyhawk and Parrot targets.
Looking ahead, a second round of exploration will be conducted over all targets that deliver positive results in the first drilling campaign.
The next stage is designed to test for further extensions to gold mineralisation and add to the Marymia resource base.