Southern Gold reloads Cannon
THE DRILL SERGEANT: Gold-focused junior resources play Southern Gold has updated the Mineral Resource on its 100%-owned Cannon gold deposit, located within the company’s Bulong South project 30 kilometres south east of Kalgoorlie, Western Australia.
The new estimate has come in at 896,000 tonnes at 3.3 grams per tonne for 94,500 ounces of gold increasing the Cannon deposit gold resource by 20 per cent.
The company has also increased the average gold grade from 3.1 g/t gold to 3.3 g/t gold. Southern Gold said a large portion of the deposit has been estimated to a higher level of confidence, with 83% of the resource now in the Indicated Category.
Southern Gold appointed Runge Limited to update the Cannon Resource model, following the completion of an RC drilling program earlier this year, the objective of which was to:
– Test the westerly down dip extension of the high grade zone in the Cannon Gold Resource, targeting an increase in the existing JORC compliant Resource; and
– Provide infill drill data to assist with the revision of the JORC compliant Resource estimate, to bring more tonnage into the Indicated category from the broader spaced Inferred category.
“The shallow, medium grade nature of the mineralisation and the proximity to toll treatment facilities suggests that the project has reasonable prospects for eventual economic extraction,” Runge concluded.
“It is recommended that preliminary economic analysis be conducted to assist in understanding the project potential
“The deposit remains open in a number of areas and further drilling is warranted to define the full extent of the mineralisation.”
Southern Gold described its near-term objective at the Bulong South gold project as to continue building the resource base by testing for further extensions to the Cannon gold deposit and discovering additional gold deposits in close proximity to the central mining lease.
“This strategy includes the addition of further resources to justify a stand-alone gold mining and processing operation and to sustain profitable gold production,” Southern Gold said in its ASX announcement.
“Various development options will continue to be assessed in parallel with the progress of the exploration results.
The Cannon gold deposit is the first of several gold occurrences within the Bulong South gold project Southern Gold has tested in detail by RC drilling.
The company considers the discovery of broad high grade gold zones highlights the importance of the recently announced RC gold intersections along the Cannon Trend at SW Cannon and Pinner prospects.
The company will be carrying out further drill program to systematically test these near resource targets that it considers highly prospective for the discovery of high grade gold ore bodies similar to the Cannon gold deposit.
“The positive results at the Bulong Gold project reinforce Southern Gold’s conviction that the Bulong area has been under explored for gold and that further regional exploration programs will discover and delineate additional gold mineralisation,” Southern Gold said.
“Work program are underway on both the new Heron JV ground and recently pegged Clinker Hill tenements, all contiguous with the Bulong South project area.”