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Murray Ward
Aureka Limited has hit high-grade gold outside the boundary of its 398,300-ounce resource at the flagship Irvine gold play in Victoria. In a significant breakthrough, the company has also landed the first notable mineralisation within a previously untested two-kilometre gap between the project’s two main lodes, Resolution and Adventure.
The results could potentially expand Irvine’s already considerable resource, with drilling at the northern end of the Resolution lode delivering a high-grade hit of 3.92 metres at 4.74 grams per tonne (g/t) gold from 238.82m. That intersection contained an even sweeter core of 0.5m grading a solid 16.1g/t gold from 241.64m, signifying a new mineralised structure at depth.
At the southern end of Resolution, drilling returned a shallow, high-grade hit of 3.5m running at 2.79g/t gold from 155.1m, including 0.7m going a hefty 8.78g/t gold. Notably, the hole had to be abandoned while still in mineralisation, due to poor ground conditions, with the final sample returning 3.09g/t gold.
However, it’s the company’s success in the vastly underexplored 2km gap separating the 358,000-ounce Resolution lode and the 40,300-ounce Adventure lode that could cause pulses to quicken.
‘Our flagship Irvine gold project continues to yield new mineralisation in multiple areas.’
Aureka Limted managing director James Gurry
Diamond drilling along strike from the historic Eaglehawk mine, which sits within the gap, has confirmed reef continuity just 75m from surface and delivered multiple intercepts. Results include 0.9m at 3.84g/t gold from 145.9m, 2.25m grading 1.34g/t gold from 90.7m and 1m going at 3.98g/t gold from 258m.
The company says the results point to broader fertility in the greater Irvine system beyond the known lodes and highlight discovery potential in a zone with very limited historical drilling.
Aureka’s Irvine project sits within Victoria’s revered Stawell Corridor, a multi-million-ounce gold province. All of the project’s current 398,300-ounce resource lies on the eastern flank of a geological feature known as the Magdala Basalt.
Intriguingly, the latest results from the 2km gap sit on the western flank of Magdala, opening up a whole new exploration front. The geology is considered analogous to the nearby producing Stawell gold mine, which has so far coughed up more than 5.3 million ounces of gold from mineralisation on both sides of the same basalt dome.
Aureka Limited managing director James Gurry said: “Our flagship Irvine Gold Project continues to yield new mineralisation in multiple areas – at depth in the north, closer to surface in the south, and west in the 2km gap between the lodes. The acquisition of Wedderburn Gold Processing facility, one of only a small number of mills in Victoria, now provides all our projects with a conceptual pathway to first production.”
Aureka’s global mineral resource across all its Victorian projects now stands at 454,800 ounces. The company’s strategy involves a two-pronged approach: advancing its flagship Irvine project towards a plus-million-ounce target while moving its smaller, previously mined assets towards production.
Just last week, the company picked up the producing Fiddlers Creek underground gold and silver mine, along with the 42,000-tonne-per-annum Wedderburn gold mill for $8.9 million in a scrip-heavy deal, handing Aureka a clear pathway to near-term cash flow. A key advantage of the new deal is the mill’s proximity to the company’s 56,500-ounce Comstock project at St Arnaud, less than 50km away, which could provide a second production source.
Notably, the deal also includes significant exploration upside on the acquired ground. The Fiddlers Creek mine lies within the Percydale goldfield, which has a rich history, producing over 700,000 ounces of gold. The surrounding tenure contains six kilometres of mineralised structure and more than 600 historical workings, with multiple parallel quartz-reef zones that have never seen a drill bit. As part of the deal, Aureka has committed to drilling at least 1800 metres on the acquired ground.
The company’s Victorian assets also include the Jubilee gold exploration project near Ballarat, the Morning Bill gold and base metals project in the Stawell corridor, alongside critical minerals potential in the St Arnaud area.
With the drill bit now proving up gold in the two kilometres of underexplored territory between its two key deposits at Irvine, Aureka appears to be connecting the dots on a system that could prove to be substantially larger than first thought. And with a processing plant now in its back pocket, the company has a potential cash engine to help bankroll what is shaping up to be a serious exploration play in one of Australia’s most storied gold districts.
Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact: mattbirney@bullsnbears.com.au
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