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Bonanza! Black Cat drills into 223g/t gold ahead of Paulsens resource upgrade
Special Report: Extensional drilling outside the mine plan at Black Cat Syndicate’s Paulsens gold mine continues to hit high-grade gold … Read More
The…
- Resource upgrade is on the cards for Paulsens in October
- With a 328,000oz @ 9.9g/t gold bounty, the historical mine is considered one of the highest-grade gold deposits in Australia
- Surface RC drilling will commence next month along the 2.5km long undrilled Belvedere trend
Extensional drilling outside the mine plan at Black Cat Syndicate’s Paulsens gold mine continues to hit high-grade gold up to 223g/t.
The shuttered Paulsens in the WA Pilbara, along with the Coyote mine in the Tanami Desert, was bought from Northern Star Resources (ASX:NST) for $44.5m last year.
In the seven months of drilling since, Black Cat Syndicate’s (ASX:BC8) has upgraded the resource 3.7x to 328,000oz at 9.9g/t Au.
That makes it one of highest-grade gold deposits in Australia.
While a Restart Study has shown attractive numbers from the production of 136,000oz Au over the initial first three years, BC8 is now looking to boost those returns.
Infill and extensional drilling is concentrated on the Main Zone, where the explorer has increased the mineralisation length by a further 175m. This gold is not included in the current Restart Study.
Significant extension results from outside the current mine plan include:
- 55m @ 223g/t Au from 75.55m at hole PGGC23031,
- 90m @ 25.54g/t Au from 51.m, including 0.61m @ 65.3g/t Au from 51.8m at hole PGGC23040,
- and 2.14m @ 8.57g/t Au from 47.81m, including 0.26m @ 63.6g/t Au from 49m at hole PGGC23039.
Further grade control drilling from within the mine plan returned grades consistent with the model, including 1.1m @ 8.31g/t Au from 73.5m, and 0.25m @ 18g/t Au from 79.75m at hole PGGC23037.
Exciting times
“Grade control and near-mine extensional drilling continues to demonstrate the near-term growth potential at Paulsens,” Black Cat MD Gareth Solly says.
“Extremely high grades outside of the base case mine plan highlight the potential to increase mine life and future cashflows through ongoing drilling.”
Solly says the team are also excited about commencing work at Belvedere soon, “a 2.5km long, gold-silver-copper system that has outstanding discovery potential and has seen little to no drilling.”
Next steps
The current drilling program is aimed at maximising cashflow and extending the production plan with a “strong focus on extending the resource within the Main Zone”, an area that comprises ~49% of the planned ounces.
Short term targets include areas where mineralisation is not closed off and up- and down-plunge extensions to the Main Zone.
Further into the footwall, drilling is targeting additional Gabbro Veins and lateral extensions to those already identified.
Surface RC drilling is expected to commence mid-October along the 2.5km long undrilled Belvedere trend, where there are numerous historic workings and Au-Ag-Cu rock chips up to 47.3g/t Au, 158.g/t Ag and 1.3% Cu.
In addition to drilling, BC8 plans to sample exposed veins within and adjacent to the decline to identify additional near-term mining opportunities and increase the mill utilisation up to the 450ktpa nameplate.
This article was developed in collaboration with Black Cat Syndicate, a Stockhead advertiser at the time of publishing.
This article does not constitute financial product advice. You should consider obtaining independent advice before making any financial decisions.
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