Alchemy Resources Ltd (ASX:ALY) has cut the blue ribbon on a reverse circulation (RC) drilling campaign at the Karonie Gold Project, east of Kalgoorlie in WA.
The company plans to cover between 3,000 and 4,000 metres across the next two-to-three weeks, with the first assays expected next month.
The program will help Alchemy run the magnifying glass over a series of high-tenor targets along the Gilmore gold trend, infill and extend the mineralisation at the Karonie East prospect and test electromagnetic (EM) plates at the KZ5 target.
Covering all the bases
Describing the program, Alchemy CEO James Wilson said: “We are excited to be back out at Karonie drill testing our priority targets at Gilmore, where there has been no RC follow-up of mineralised intercepts since 2002.
“At Karonie East, we are testing mineralisation at depth, following up on the success of our recent aircore program.
“At KZ5, an untested EM plate lines up with our revised interpretation of mineralisation, which could add further strike length to the resource.
“Overall, our activities are proceeding in line with our 2022 objectives, testing existing walk-up and advanced stage targets at Karonie.”
Turning the soil at Karonie
The next chapter of exploration at Karonie marks phase three of Alchemy’s broader drill program.
Activity is focused on three key targets: the Gilmore, Karonie East and KZ5 prospects.
Alchemy secured Exploration Incentive scheme (EIS) co-funding to support drilling along the Gilmore trend, which it believes validates the target’s potential as a new discovery base.
Over at Karonie East, Alchemy wants to follow up on a magnetic feature. It comes after assays from the explorer’s aircore drill program returned numerous zones of anomalous gold (grading more than 0.1 g/t) over around 950 metres of strike.
The best hit encompassed 2 metres at 2.7 g/t gold, including 1 metre at 3.99 g/t from 48 metres. Now, RC drilling will test mineralisation in the bedrock below these intersections and along strike from the gold zone.
Finally, at KZ5, a single, deep RC hole is planned to test a historically defined EM plate to the north of the existing defined resources.
In mid-2021 Alchemy completed a drill campaign that was used to complete a maiden JORC-compliant resource.
The geology at KZ5 was reinterpreted following the infill drilling and resource modelling, and the mineralisation is now interpreted to be offset to the north-west.
An EM plate generated via a moving loop and fixed loop EM survey, conducted in 1991, is interpreted to represent an extension of the KZ5 mineralisation to the north.
Alchemy will keep the market attuned to its findings as it carries out the phase three drill program.