Wiluna Mining Corporation Ltd (ASX:WMC, OTC:WMXCF) has made a high-grade gold discovery at its namesake project’s Lower East Lode target.
The explorer revealed the new zone when it confirmed high-grade sulphide mineralisation in the first of eight drill holes testing down-plunge extensions of the project’s East and West lodes.
This first hole, WUDD0077, intersected:
- 9.4 metres at 4.87 g/t gold, including 6.6 metres at 6.22 g/t; and
- 1.8 metres at 9.74 g/t.
Historically, East and West represented the main producing lodes at Wiluna, carrying a combined gold endowment of 3.5 million ounces, grading 5.4 g/t.
Moving ahead, Wiluna’s 40,000-metre discovery drilling campaign will test nine large-scale targets for new high-grade sulphide shoots ‘under the headframe’ at Wiluna.
Drilling is underway at the East and West Lode Lower, Bulletin North and Squib targets.
125 years of historical mining
Wiluna Mining executive chair Milan Jerkovic said of the discovery: “This outstanding intercept confirms our strategy to discover new high-grade sulphide shoots … as we look to expand beyond the current mining activity in the North Mine Area.
“After 125 years of historical mining, the Wiluna orebody continues to deliver exciting new discoveries; this new intersection is well below an area that was last mined almost 70 years ago.
“The intersection is close to existing modern access via the Golden Age and Calais zones, so it’s a relatively simple and low-cost exercise to develop across to drill further with the intention to rapidly grow resources and reserves.”
From east to west
Wiluna’s East and West Lodes were historically mined to 600 metres deep during the 1930s and 1940s, producing 1.4 million gold ounces at 7.6 g/t, until production ceased at the end of World War II.
A small number of wide-spaced holes were drilled below the lodes in the late 1990s, which confirmed the continuity of the gold structures, although high-grade shoot trends were not adequately tested.
Fast forward to today, and the East and West lode discovery program is looking for a repeat of the lode endowment across roughly 1,000 metres of strike extent and between 800 to 1,500 metres below the surface.
The program targets an area that has been sparsely tested, despite the large-scale and high-grade past production.
What’s in the ground?
Interestingly, the East and West Lode structures are variably mineralised between the high-grade sulphide shoots and are prospective for further discoveries along strike to the north and south, as well as at depth.
In addition, first-pass seismic traverse lines, which Wiluna acquired in 2021, indicate that gold structures extend well below and beyond the current mineral resource limits, supporting discovery drill hole targeting.
Wiluna’s gold hits in hole WUDD0077 have confirmed new extensions to mineralisation that continue well below the deepest historical drilling and the mineral resource.
The intersections are relatively shallow— between 800 and 1000 metres below surface — and are close to the nearby Golden Age and Calais mine areas.
As Jerkovic noted, the existing development at Golden Age and Calais may provide rapid and low-cost access for further drilling at these new sulphide zones, subject to further results from the current drilling program.
