Gateway Mining Limited (ASX: GML) has commenced a new phase of Reverse Circulation (RC) drilling at its 526,000oz Montague Gold Project, located in the Murchison Gold District of Western Australia.
This drilling is the first systematic programme testing the entire strike length of the significantly mineralized Montague-Caledonian shear system below the historic Caledonian pit, which was mined in the late 1980’s by Herald Resources Ltd.
This same shear system hosts the Montague-Boulder deposit, located over 1.3km to the north, where Gateway has successfully delineated a 163,000oz Indicated and Inferred Resource below the historic Montague-Boulder open pit.
The current RC programme is designed to follow up on initial testing undertaken in late 2022 by Gateway, where the first holes drilled into this structure returned:
▪ GRC1005: 13m @1.4g/t Au from 101m, including 2m @6.4g/t Au ▪ GRC912: 18m @0.5g/t Au from 106m
The bulk of mineralisation at the Montague-Boulder deposit further north is hosted within this primary zone below the transition zone. The successful intersection of a thick zone of primary mineralisation has highlighted the potential for substantial gold mineralization to be hosted at depth below the Caledonian open pit.
A series of RC drill sections will be completed along this one km of strike at Caledonian, testing for shallow-dipping, high grade gold mineralization similar to the Montague-Boulder deposit to the north.
While this follow-up RC programme is underway to identify the potential for additional Mineral Resources in the vicinity of the historic open pits at Montague, a second exploration program will commence later this month with the aim of exploring for significant new deposits within the broader 1,000 sq. km of tenure.
This exploration will be targeting “step-change” discoveries, to accelerate growth in the current 526,000oz Mineral Resource.
“We are excited to be back up at Montague with the drill rig turning once again! Following the completion of site preparation works, the rig arrived earlier this week and has now commenced drilling. This programme has been designed to systematically test below the historic Caledonian pit,” Managing Director, Mark Cossom, said.
“Our initial drilling below this pit, which for the first time tested the continuation of the ore-zone into the fresh rock, intersected the host Caledonian-Montague shear zone and returned a significant thickness of +1g/t Au mineralization last year.
“This new programme is designed to extend this zone over a strike length of over 450m, down to 150m below surface. This mineralized structure is the same one that hosts the mineralization at the Montague-Boulder deposit, approximately 1.3km to the north, where Gateway has defined a resource of more than 163,000 ounces to date.
“This drilling represents the first program for 2023 at Montague. We will also shortly commence a major soil geochemistry program that will cover over 20km of strike of the mineralized structures north of Montague, where we believe there is outstanding potential to make new large-scale discoveries under cover.
“This work will be coupled with our recent targeting study completed by Model Earth and ground geophysics programs, to delineate major new drill targets in this sensational part of the WA Goldfields.”
For further information please visit: https://www.gatewaymining.com.au
