Northern Star scores new gold hits beyond Paulsens

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THE DRILL SERGEANT: Northern Star Resources (ASX: NST) is beginning to reap the benefits of an ongoing $20 million exploration program being conducted on the company’s7000 square kilometre landholding in the Ashburton region of Western Australia.

Results of a round of drilling last year, which returned 9m at 12.7g/t gold, motivated Northern Star to design an RC/diamond drill program designed to target mineralisation open down plunge and along strike.

According to the company the latest program is returning encouraging results that are confirming the potential area.

In particular drilling at the Belvedere has returned pleasing results including:

–    8 metres at 14.7 grams per tonne gold and 47 grams per tonne silver from 68 metres, including 4 metres at 29 grams per tonne gold and 91 grams per tonne silver from 69 metres; and

–    9m at 8.7g/t gold and 21g/t silver from 107m, including 5m at 12.4g/t gold and 25g/t silver from 107m.

Northern Star explained Belvedere is situated eight kilometres from the company’s Paulsens gold mine on a 25km-long mineralised structure.

The Belvedere prospect is located within what the company has designated to be, the “Paulsens Mine Corridor”.

 

Plan view of the newly-defined 25km “Paulsens Mine Corridor”. Source: Company announcement

“The Belvedere results strongly support the company’s belief in the prospectivity of the 25 kilometre structure containing Paulsens,” Northern Star Resources managing director Bill Beament said in the company’s announcement to the Australian Securities Exchange.

“We believe we have some of the most promising yet barely explored gold ground in Australia.

“There is growing evidence of the potential for Paulsens look-alikes on the 25 kilometre structure as well as significant upside elsewhere on our 200 kiometre-long corridor.”

Last year Northern Star re-assessed historical data and defined a maiden resource of 18,000 ounces of gold at 3.3 grams per tonne.

The company considers Belvedere to possess similarities to the Paulsens orebody, where gold is also contained within a plunging quartz vein system.

Geological similarities are high gold grades, quartz vein-sulphide host, location near the Wyloo Dome fold hinge and proximity to key structures.