The latest drilling forms part of an ongoing 50,000m drill campaign planned for this year at Rogozna, focusing on up-dip extensions and infill drilling of stronger mineral zones at Gradina to push towards a maiden mineral resource later this year.
Strickland, with a market cap of $360 million, is the envy of many small to mid-size gold firms. It has an impressive holding of cash and liquids, including a wad of Northern Star Resources shares, all to the tune of $52.4 million as of June 30.
The gold mineralisation at the northern end of Gradina is hosted within green garnet skarn and associated with strong pyrrhotite alteration. At the southern end, it is commonly associated with moderate to high concentrations of base metals, predominantly zinc.
Across the deposit, mineralisation geometry is controlled by the bedding of the carbonate, or skarn, sequence. The highest-grade mineralisation is also spatially associated with the margins of quartz diorite intrusions.
Strickland revealed last month it had discovered a new, deeper copper-gold zone at its 5.3-million-ounce gold-equivalent Shanac deposit, which is part of Rogozna. A three-hole diamond drill program returned a 1.7m interval grading an impressive 6.8 per cent copper. It was the highest copper grade encountered at the growing project.
A thick drill intersection returned 172.5m at 1.3g/t gold-equivalent from 322.6m, which included gold-equivalent hits of 32m going 1.2g/t from 322.6m, 58.5m grading 2.7g/t from 436.6m and 10m running 3.1g/t from 452.1m.
Within the 172.5m interval, a new copper-gold discovery zone kicked up significant gold-equivalent results of 21.6m at 3.7g/t from 473.5m, including a solid 5.7m slice going 9.7g/t from 489.4m.
A further ripsnorter 309.3m hit graded 1.2g/t gold-equivalent from 264.3m, including a long gold-equivalent intersection of 102.4m at 2g/t from 471.2m, which contained a 61.8m section at 2.4g/t from 505.2m. A new copper-gold zone within it produced several head-turning finds of 18.2m at 3.7g/t from 548.8m and 6m grading 6.8g/t from 556.9m.
A further thick interval comprised 248.9m running an even 1g/t gold-equivalent from 257m.
Strickland now holds a significant stake in Gateway Mining, with 300 million shares, providing it with about a 15.7 per cent stake in the junior goldie, earned when Strickland sold its Yandal gold project in Western Australia to Gateway.
The price of gold is still going gangbusters, touching a fresh record high near US$3870 (A$5862) per ounce today.
With eight drill rigs at Rogozna pounding out the metres and in hot pursuit of new mineralisation to define a maiden resource at Gradina, in conjunction with looking to grow total gold ounces at the project, news of a new gold price surge must be music to the ears of Strickland management.
Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact: mattbirney@bullsnbears.com.au
