Brought to you by BULLS N’ BEARS
Murray Ward
Aureka Limited has hit the ground running at its flagship, 100 per cent owned Irvine gold project in Victoria, locking onto fresh, high-priority targets after sending survey drones skyward.
The precision airborne geophysical program has unmasked a network of previously hidden subsurface structures across the project area in the decorated Stawell gold corridor, pinning down clear underground geological features, unlocking its highly prospective new hunting grounds.
The new drone dataset utilised tight fifty-metre line spacings flown at low altitude, delivering a massive resolution upgrade over the low tech historical regional data.
The company’s high-tech leap has lit up complex underlying fault zones and structural traps that may host gold mineralisation beneath alluvial soil cover.
‘It is great to see these enhanced magnetics immediately put to use in our continuous diamond drilling at Irvine.’
Aureka Limited managing director James Gurry
Geologically, gold at Irvine is tied to a collection of sheared volcanic basalt and sedimentary rock layers offset along the eastern edge of the major Irvine Dome structure.
Aureka says that to map this zone with pinpoint accuracy, the raw magnetic data underwent advanced processing to strip out natural background noise, centering the newly identified anomalies directly over their exact underground targets.
The company is moving at pace, testing the first of the newly defined anomalies, with a diamond drill rig already biting into the fresh North Resolution target at Irvine.
Located 900 metres north of Aureka’s established Resolution lode resource, the blind target popped into view through a combination of locating a distinct magnetic low along with soil geochem anomalies and a strong electrical signature that all point to potential sulphide mineralisation.
The survey also shone a light on the structural complexity within the underexplored, 2000- metre gap between the 264,000-ounce Resolution lode and the 40,000-ounce Adventure lode. Initial drilling across the prospective zone is already complete, with the highly anticipated assay results set to land soon.
Aureka Limited managing director James Gurry said: “It is great to see these enhanced magnetics immediately put to use in our continuous diamond drilling at Irvine, and we look forward to what world-renowned expert Dr Barry Murphy can also reveal from our enhanced Irvine dataset.”
Drill results are also in the pipeline for Aureka’s untested prospects across the project’s western flanks near the historic New Eaglehawk and Native Youth mine workings.
Management says to help it extract maximum value from the new dataset, the company has hired globally renowned structural geologist Dr Barry Murphy. Murphy comes to Aureka with considerable form. His regional targeting and structural modelling smarts led directly to the uncovering of Predictive Discovery’s 5.5-million-ounce Bankan gold project in West Africa.
The company’s fast paced target hunting at Irvine complements its savvy Victorian strategy which is focused on dual-track regional growth.
Irvine sits just 16 kilometres south of the operating multimillion-ounce Stawell gold mine, placing Aureka’s freshly identified targets right on the doorstep of world class mining infrastructure.
Just last month the company spun the diamond drill rods into action at its historic St Arnaud Comstock gold project 90 kilometres to the north east, launching a six-week 1000 metre infill drilling blitz at the past-producing Walkers open pit.
That campaign aims to rapidly upgrade Comstock’s 56,500-ounce resource to support near-term production studies. The Comstock work is running in tandem with toll-treating pathway assessments currently being undertaken by Core Prospecting at the nearby Wedderburn gold milling facility.
Aureka appears to be picking up the pace and building upon its already solid foundation. Management says it is focussed on an exploration target that will hopefully lift its global Victorian inventory by a further 280,000 to 400,000 ounces of gold with an expected grade range of between 2 g/t gold and 3g/t gold, with the company’s growth firmly anchored by Irvine’s 304,000-ounce gold resource.
Aureka’s next steps include completing three-dimensional computer modelling and detailed geological reconstructions of the Irvine project area. The company aims to produce a comprehensive structural model which will spit out a steady pipeline of future drill targets across the Stawell corridor.
With high-tech drone data revealing a fresh treasure map and the diamond drill bits already biting into premier targets, Aureka appears to be moving at a cracking pace to unlock its Victorian assets true potential. Punters are likely to be keeping a close eye out for upcoming assays to start landing from this rejuvenated and highly prospective historic goldfield.
Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact: mattbirney@bullsnbears.com.au
