Northern Star hits potential Paulsens replica

THE DRILL SERGEANT: Northern Star Resources has received results from drilling conducted alongside its Paulsens gold deposit in Western Australia, which it says provide strong evidence of the potential to replicate its richness.

The company has taken delivery of assays of up to 14 grams per tonne from a drilling campaign undertaken on the recently discovered quartz lode which lies adjacent to the known Paulsens mineralisation.

According to the company these quartz veins are located within an offset position similar to Paulsens mineralisation but outside the main gabbro rock unit which it explained has historically been seen as a ‘fence’ either side of Paulsens, acting as a natural perimeter on the extent of the mineralisation.

 

Plan view of interpretation of quartz lodes and gabbro offset position. Source: Company announcement

 

Significant results from the latest round of drilling include:

–    0.4 metres at 13.9 grams per tonne gold; and

–    0.6m at11.6 g/t gold.

The discovery of quartz on the southern side of the gabbro ‘fence’ came as a bit of surprise to Northern Star as the drilling was aimed only at gaining further knowledge of the structural geology on the other side of the gabbro rather than ascertaining whether it was mineralised.

“These latest results are highly encouraging because not only do they support Northern Star’s theory that there is more quartz on the other side of the Paulsens southern gabbro, but they show the quartz is mineralised,” Northern Star Resources managing director Bill Beament said in the company’s announcement to the Australian Securities Exchange.

“These results point to the potential to replicate Paulsens. And given that we have now identified two additional zones of quartz, each separated by gabbro and there is the prospect of finding more such zones, we consider them to be a potential game-changer at Paulsens.

“But at the same time, it is important to note that just a few holes have been drilled and assayed and therefore there is much work to do before we will know the true significance of what we have.”