THE DRILL SERGEANT: Northern Star Resources has announced some impressive drilling results from the company’s Paulsens gold mine in Western Australia.

The company said the results, including one intersection of one metre at 3390 grams per tonne, have laid the foundations for a substantial resource upgrade at the Paulsens gold mine.

This was part of an overall diamond drill hole intersection of 8.4m at 412.5g/t and follows a previously announced intersection at Voyager of 0.8m at 12178g/t.

Recent results received from drilling at the Voyager 1 lode at Paulsens include 0.54m at 1016g/t.

Northern Star recently announced an increased resource of 318,000 ounces at Paulsens and has outlined plans to grow production there from its current rate of around 80,000 ounces per annum to 100,000 ounces per annum.

 

Oblique long section view of drill results for Voyager 2 Lode. Source: Company announcement

Results from drilling at Voyager 2 include (uncut):

–    8.4 metres at 412.5 grams per tonne gold (true width 2.0 metres) from 437m, including 1.0 metre at 3390 grams per tonne gold;

–    4.4m at 25.0g/t gold (true width 1.8m) from 453m;

–    1.3m at 42.1g/t gold (true width 1.0m) from 461m;

–    1.2m at 31.5g/t gold (true width 0.9m) from 473m;

–    2.0m at 23.5g/t gold (true width 1.0m) from 487m;

–    2.8m at 19.5g/t gold (true width 2.7m) from 563m; and

–    13.0m at 5.8g/t gold (true width 8.1m) from 485m.

Results from Voyager 1 include (uncut):

–    5.2m at 108.6g/t gold (true width 4.2m) from 593m, including 0.54m at 1016g/t;

–    5.3m at 93.3g/t gold (true width 2.3m) from 545m;

–    3.4m at 61.7g/t gold (true width 3.1m) from 597m;

–    2.7m at 48.7g/t gold (true width 1.9m) from 598m;

–    4.0m at 45.0g/t gold (true width 2.4m) from 612m;

–    2.5m at 43.0g/t gold (true width 2.3m) from 596m; and

–    7.3m at 33.5g/t gold (true width 3.0m) from 613m.

Northern Start said the latest drilling results will be combined with previous results, including 0.8m at 12178gpt, to generate a maiden resource figure for Voyager 2 by mid-2012.

The company said the recent results confirm its view that Voyager 2 would be an integral source of ore at Paulsens in years to come.

“Part of the $45 million raising has been earmarked for rapid capital development to mine the Voyager 2 lode ahead of schedule and for installing a gravity circuit due to the very high grades,” Northern Star Resources managing director Bill Beament said in the company’s announcement to the Australian Securities Exchange.

Northern Star has an exploration target at Voyager 2 of 100,000 to 250,000 ounces.

All the known mineralisation at Voyager 2 is excluded from the recently released Paulsens project Resource estimate of 318,000 ounces.

THE DRILL SERGEANT: Saracen Mineral Holdings has been encouraged by the receipt of gold assay results from an ongoing drilling program being conducted at the company’s Whirling Dervish mine.

Saracen said the latest higher-grade gold intercepts it has achieved confirm the likely continuation of the main “footwall” ore body for at least 400 metres to the north of the present open pit mine.

 

Whirling Dervish Cross section. Source: Company announcement

Results include:

–    3 metres at 20.14 grams per tonne gold/t and 12 metres at 4.77 grams per tonne gold, including 5 metres at 7.59 grams per tonne gold;

–    8m at 5.51g/t gold;

–    3m at 8.36g/t gold; and

–    3m at 6.44g/t gold.

The results follow previously announced results of:

–    10m at 5.52g/t gold;

–    16m at 4.39g/t gold; and

–    15m at 5.41g/t.

The recent diamond drilling carried out by Saracen has targeted strike extensions of the main footwall ore body.

This program has extended the known strike of the mineralised zone by 400m, which the company claims is now confirmed to remain open to the north and at depth.

The main footwall ore body has to date provided the higher grade feed to the existing Carosue Dam processing plant.

It continues below the present pit floor and Saracen is utilising the remaining ore reserve (after the first phase of open-pit mining) by incorporating it into the present underground mining study.

“The Whirling Dervish mineralised system is much more extensive than previously thought,” Saracen Mineral Holdings executive chairman Guido Staltari said in the company’s announcement to the Australian Securities Exchange.

“With our underground mining study in train, and two rigs in operation here, we are aiming for a material lift in resources and gold production from this area.

“Confirmation of the continuation of the footwall ore body for another 400 metres along strike is a very positive finding and lends further weight to our exploration target concept.”

Saracen has completed nine holes to target depth with results received for eight of these, all of which intersected significant mineralisation.

THE DRILL SERGEANT: Perth-based gold and base metal exploration company Rubianna Resources has announced that results from the company’s ‘Phase Two’ drilling program at its Bloodstone project have returned multiple high-grade gold intercepts of up to 108 grams per tonne. By Mark Jones.

The Bloodstone project is within Rubianna’s 100 per cent-owned Murchison tenements located in the highly prospective Peak Hill mining district of Western Australia.

The Murchison project comprises 17 granted tenements covering approximately 1,400 square kilometres.

Project location. Source: Company announcement

Previous drilling by Rubianna at Bloodstone returned gold results of up to 8 metres at 28 grams per tonne and 4 metres at 16 grams per tonne.

Best drilling results included:

5 metres at 21.8 grams per tonne gold, including 1 metre at108.0 grams per tonne gold;

4m at10.9 g/t gold, including 1mat 43.0 g/t gold;

5m at 4.2 g/t gold, including 1mat 19.1 g/t gold;

12m at 2.3 g/t gold, including 1mat 15.4 g/t gold; and

 1m at19.3 g/t gold.

The ‘Phase two’ Bloodstone drill program consisted of thirteen holes for a total of 1096 metres of RC drilling with the objective of defining further mineralisation in the western and down-dip extensions of the Bloodstone prospect.

Multiple high-grade intersections (>1g/t gold) have been returned that appear to define at least one and possibly two, NW-trending, high-grade shoots within a broader low-grade (0.1 to 1 g/t gold) halo. Importantly, the system remains open to the west.

 “The confirmation of the high-grade gold shoot and improved definition of the strike and dip extent within the Bloodstone prospect matched our pre-drill expectations and will significantly improve our future targeting. The next drill programme will test the continuity of the shoot to the west and look for repetitions of the shoot at depth,”
Rubianna Resources general manager Steve Batty in the company’s announcement to the Australian Securities Exchange said.

The company is planning to undertake the next phase of exploration work at Bloodstone during the second quarter of 2012.

THE DRILL SERGEANT: Talisman Mining is about to commence a targeted drilling program at its Springfield copper-gold project in Western Australia.

The drill program is scheduled to commence in the second half of March and has been designed to test 18 newly identified Tier-One copper-gold exploration targets.

The program will comprise approximately 10,000 metres of combined diamond and RC drilling, with scope to extend this further dependent upon geological information obtained in the field and ongoing assay results.

Springfield is located four kilometres from the DeGrussa copper-gold project of Sandfire Resources.

Over the past three months, Talisman has undertaken a detailed and integrated review of the data fromits earlier exploration activities at Springfield to identify key stratigraphic horizons, primary structural controls and geochemical vectors to mineralisation.
 

This has led Talisman to develop a 3D geological model for the Springfield project, from which it has identified 18 Tier-One target areas the company claims contains all of the four key elements required for the potential formation of a VMS copper gold deposit.

 

3D model looking East showing areas within the Springfield project
with a geological and structural setting similar to the DeGrussa
copper-gold mine. Source: Company announcement

 

Talisman will systematically drill test these 18 target areas over the coming months while it also carrys out down-hole electromagnetic surveys at all holes.

The company said it had identified these initial 18 targets at Springfield as a result of its commitment to reconnaissance exploration activities to assemble a series of extensive key datasets.

“By utilising state-of-the-art geo-scientific techniques, these extensive datasets have enabled us to develop a comprehensive 3D geological model for Springfield,” Talisman Mining managing director Gary Lethridge said in the company’s announcement to the Australian Securities Exchange.

“This interpretative model is, we believe, the key to giving Talisman the best possible chance of making a new copper-gold discovery at Springfield.

“We have always been clear that this is our primary objective and this recent work takes us a step closer to achieving that objective.”

THE DRILL SERGEANT: Australian resources company GBM Resources has released a maiden rare earth resource for the company’s Milo iron oxide copper gold (IOCG) and Rare Earth Elements and Yttrium (REEY) project in northwest Queensland.

The maiden resource for Milo follows a string of strong drilling results and includes 103 million tonnes containing an estimated 82,500 tonnes of total rare earth elements and yttrium oxide (TREEYO) at an average grade of 760 parts per million TREEYO based on a 400 parts per million cut‐off grade.

 

Computer model of the Milo TREEYO mineralised zone looking
approximately grid west. The current model extends to approximately 400 m
below surface and is limited by drilling. Source: Company announcement

 

GBM claim the mineralised zone to be up to 200 metres wide and continuous over a strike length of more than
800 metres, open in all directions.

The current drilling has extended the current mineralised zone by at least 380m, which is outside the rare earth resource.

“It is noteworthy that 21 per cent of this material is comprised of neodymium, europium, yttrium and dysprosium, elements that have recently been deemed as in critical supply for the short to medium term by the US Department of Energy,” GBM Resources said in its ASX announcement.

“The resource is contained within a broad mineralised zone and using lower cut‐off grades the tonnage potential increase markedly representing significant upside to the current resource, subject to outcomes of the scoping study.”

GBM has commenced a scoping study at Milo, which is scheduled to be completed by June 2012.

The study will be used to delineate a maiden copper equivalent resource for the project and will also carry out metallurgical testing for both copper equivalent metals and rare earth elements.