Musgrave Minerals Ltd (ASX:MGV, OTC:MGVMF) is heartened by further assay results from its ongoing diamond and aircore drilling programs at the Cue Joint Venture with Evolution Mining Ltd (ASX:EVN) in Western Australia’s Murchison district.
The intent of the drilling on the JV area is to delineate the scale of the gold system at the West Island prospect, test additional gold-in-regolith aircore anomalies and define new diamond drilling targets through aircore drilling.
Multiple new gold lodes
Thick basement gold intersections have been confirmed at West Island following diamond drilling, including:
- 2.4 metres at 7.1 g/t gold from 137.9 metres;
- 19 metres at 4.43 g/t from 282 metres, including 10.5 metres at 6.25 g/t from 287 metres;
- 2.9 metres at 9.59 g/t from 308.1 metres;
- 12 metres at 4.89 g/t from 322 metres including 9 metres at 6.37 g/t from 322 metres; and
- 6.55 metres at 4.66 g/t from 253.45 metres.
Follow-up aircore drilling on Lake Austin has extended the mineralised footprint to more than 2.1 kilometres at West Island and has highlighted new basement targets.
Significant intersections include:
- 2 metres at 119.6 g/t gold from 174 metres, 500 metres south of current West Island diamond drilling; and
- 2 metres at 18.06 g/t from 74 metres in a new target area 2.8 kilometres south of West Island.
Further drilling planned
The results have come in as diamond drilling continues at the project, intersecting potential ore grade intersections over wide thicknesses in basement rocks at the West Island Prospect.
Aircore drilling results have extended the large regolith gold mineralisation footprint at West Island, identifying new zones for follow-up basement drill testing.
A new phase of regional aircore drilling has kicked off to define new basement target areas within the favourable host dolerite sill.
The West Island zone is part of a broader regional 7-kilometre-long anomalous gold corridor within the joint venture. Mineralisation at West Island is hosted within a differentiated dolerite intrusive sill, similar to that hosting the high-grade Great Fingall and Golden Crown deposits 25 kilometres to the north of the Cue Project.
The Great Fingall and Golden Crown deposits host a combined 4.4 million tonnes at 14.1 g/t for 2 million ounces of gold (total indicated and inferred resources and past production).
Upside potential
Musgrave managing director Rob Waugh said: “The gold system at West Island on the Cue JV with Evolution is a discovery that highlights the upside potential of the Cue Project.
“Diamond drilling continues to deliver strong basement results with drilling confirming the potential for multiple high-grade basement gold lodes within the dolerite sill.
“To complement these results, aircore drilling continues to extend the West Island system and identify new basement targets under Lake Austin.”
About the Cue joint venture
In October 2019, Musgrave entered an earn-in and joint venture exploration agreement with Evolution Mining over a large area of Lake Austin and surrounds on the Cue Project in the Murchison District of Western Australia.
The Evolution JV lies to the north of and excludes all the current resources at Cue, the new White Heat-Mosaic and Big Sky discoveries, and the Mainland option area.
Evolution stands to earn a 75% interest in the JV area by sole funding $18 million on exploration over a five-year term. The company has to date spent roughly $11 million on the joint venture with a further $2 million planned for the fourth quarter of the year.