More drilling is planned to chase high-grade ore shoots along the Tenacity and Resolution Faults, with full assays still pending.
Aureka Ltd managing director James Gurry said: “We are delighted to confirm that the recent visible gold intercepts are yielding exceptional gold grades at our flagship Irvine project and to report a significant 183g/t gold intercept – the highest gold drilling results returned at Irvine since discovery.”
Gold at Irvine occurs in sheared basalt and meta-sediments near the structurally significant Irvine Dome at the project.
The setup at Irvine mirrors the region’s high-grade systems including the 5.3-million-ounce Stawell gold mine just 16km north. With quartz veins and sulphide zones driving elevated grades at fault intersections, drilling will continue to target the promising structural positions.
Aureka says its current program is steaming ahead as the rig steps out south of the Resolution deposits’ 304,000 ounces at 2.43g/t to infill key zones for an upcoming resource upgrade by years end.
An exploration target of 280,000 to 420,000 ounces at 2–3g/t gold is looking more achievable with the latest results, confirming more grade and different mineralisation expansion with complexity at depth.
Historical drilling highlights at the deposit include hits like 18.7m at a solid 7.1g/t gold and 9.4m at 5.3g/t.
Aureka also revealed a maiden inferred JORC resource from historic drilling results at the company’s St Arnaud project in western Victoria, 90 kilometres west of the famous gold mining town of Bendigo earlier this year.
The company analysed the results from 120 historic drill holes plunged into the previously mined St Arnaud Comstock open pit, releasing its maiden resource of 1.45 million tonnes at 1.2 grams per tonne (g/t) of gold for 56,500 ounces.
The inclusion of the resource at St Arnaud kicked up Aureka’s total Victorian gold resources to a solid 360,000 ounces.
With mineralisation open along strike and at depth, Aureka’s team is honing its geological model to pinpoint richer zones. As the gold price soars past $6400 per ounce, the company’s latest results are adding value in the ground at a rate of knots.
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