Waratah Minerals Limited has intersected thick sequences of alluvial and eluvial gold in a sonic core drilling program at the Gum Flat prospect, pointing to a westward extension of the Spur Gold Project in New South Wales.

The nine-hole drill program followed up historical RAB drilling conducted by Billiton between 1987 and 1988 over the historical Gum Flat alluvial mining area adjacent to the Spur Zone. Waratah completed six sonic holes in a 120-metre east-west fence across the Gum Flat Fault and three holes on a 40-metre north-south fence 150 metres to the north.

Assay results returned broad zones of shallow mineralisation hosted in alluvial paleochannels and weathered basement rocks. Hole GFS007 encountered 30.5 metres at 0.96 g/t gold from eight metres, including a 21.4-metre interval at 1.31 g/t gold from 9.6 metres that featured a 3.5-metre section grading 5.70 g/t gold from 22.5 metres and two metres at 9.06 g/t gold from 24 metres.

Additional intercepts included hole GFS005, which returned 19 metres at 1.10 g/t gold from 31 metres, including a 4.5-metre zone at 3.25 g/t gold from 41.5 metres. Hole GFS009 intersected over 50 metres of mineralisation from surface through the base of alluvial sediments at 11 metres and into underlying saprolite, returning 50.5 metres at 0.32 g/t gold. Hole GFS001 intersected 14 metres at 0.75 g/t gold from 9.5 metres, including 4.9 metres at 1.90 g/t gold from 16.1 metres, while hole GFS006 returned 14 metres at 0.55 g/t gold from six metres.

Waratah holds a 100% interest in the Spur project and has advanced an 80,000-metre growth and extensional drilling campaign across the tenure. The company plans to re-enter drillhole ARC024 at the Spur project's Alpine Zone and extend the hole using a diamond tail.

“Importantly, the results support the interpretation that the Spur Gold Zone may extend a further 150 metres undercover to the west, opening up a compelling new exploration target. The presence of alluvial gold in this setting is also encouraging from an early development perspective, while we continue to define the scale and continuity of hard rock mineralisation.” — Peter Duerden, Managing Director

Regional exploration across the wider district has also seen active drilling, with Resolution Minerals Ltd reporting broad gold mineralisation including 305.7m at 0.64 g/t gold from surface at the Golden Gate South prospect within the surrounding district.

Read the full announcement: Drilling Defines New Gold Zone at Gum Flat