Westar Resources Ltd (ASX:WSR) has executed a tribute agreement with a local prospector to begin mechanised prospecting activities for alluvial gold at the historical Birrigrin Mining Centre, situated within the Gidgee South Project in Western Australia, delivering early positive gold recoveries.
Under the agreement, the company will receive a 15% tribute payment for any gold discovered at Gidgee South.
Notably, numerous gold nuggets were recovered from Birrigrin, in proximity to the Wheel Ellen Mine area, including gold in quartz specimens.
Moving forward, Westar geologists will complete site investigations and mapping to integrate the location of nugget finds with existing datasets to refine a proposed drilling program.
“Nugget discoveries”
Westar managing director Karl Jupp said “We are extremely encouraged by these nugget discoveries at Gidgee South.
“The tribute agreement will not only extract value from the Gidgee South project but also allow our geologists to better understand any potential associations between alluvial gold and the underlying geology.
“Follow up drilling at Birrigrin and the Tassie prospect is planned for Q3 2022 and with this recent discovery Westar will consider additional drilling around the old Wheel Ellen mine.”
Gidgee South alluvial gold
To date, approximately 10 ounces of fine gold have been recovered, primarily using a front-end loader and metal detectors.
The nugget finds are predominantly located in the hard caprock beneath the surface cover and in proximity to the historical Wheel Ellen mine, which has a recorded production grade (MINDEX) of 196.23 g/t gold.
Prospecting activities will continue intermittently throughout the field season and an excavator is expected to arrive on-site during the month of June.
It is anticipated the excavator will penetrate below the hard caprock material, which is the limiting depth of extraction for the front-end loader.
Gold in quartz specimen. Size of specimen is approximately 10 centimetres.
What is next at Gidgee South?
Westar intends to progress exploration activities at the Gidgee South Project through:
- mapping and data integration of the nugget discovery areas into Westar datasets;
- refining reverse circulation drilling planned for September quarter, 2022 and assessing the potential for additional drilling in the nugget discovery areas around the Wheel Ellen Mine area;
- advancing drill targets at the Carbine Bore prospect; and
- field mapping and targeting along the Eastern greenstone-granite contact on mining licence E57/1055.