Aurumin has secured five new exploration tenements to stretch its near 1 million-ounce Sandstone gold operations that sit about 600km north-east of Perth in Western Australia’s historic East Murchison region.
The tenements sit on more than 60 square kilometres of the Youanmi terrane greenstone and consist of various historical workings and old deposits that make up several compelling targets. Several of the tenements extend directly north of mining leases that make up the Central Sandstone deposit, which consists of 881,000 ounces of gold and is part of the company’s overall 946,000-ounce operation.
Two tenements lie south of Central Sandstone, with one featuring the promising Good Hope deposit, where 29 tonnes mined in the early 1900s returned a stellar 23.17 grams per tonne gold.
The company says the key terms in acquiring the tenements from a syndicate of private holders include a $130,000 cash payment, in addition to 4.5 million of its shares at a deemed issue price of 4c.
Aurumin managing director Brad Valiukas said: “We are focussed on the Central Sandstone Project and generating the critical mass required for future production, and have recently completed drilling of 7 new targets and 2 extensional positions targeting additional open pit material to support an operational restart.”
The company will be looking for sufficient targets to be generated from the new tenements to formulate a drill program that can complement the drilling it has just completed at Central Sandstone, with the intention of boosting its resources in the near-term.
Aurumin is making a push to smash its Sandstone resource through the coveted 1 million-ounce mark and is eagerly anticipating the results from the 3888m it drilled recently.
Management says the work followed up on structural and geochemical targets derived from previous exploration programs. It targeted multiple styles and models of mineralisation, including banded iron-hosted and porphyry-intrusive vein-style systems.
The company drilled five holes to test for extensions to two existing open pit resources and importantly, all of the drilling has been completed on targets that sit within highly-prized mining leases. Another positive is the fact that they are all within 3km of processing plant operations.
The total Sandstone resource of 946,000 gold ounces includes the Johnson Range project’s 64,700 ounces at a solid 2.51g/t and Central Sandstone’s 881,000 ounces. Johnson Range sits midway between Sandstone and the regional historical mining town of Southern Cross.
The third project within the Sandstone operations is the Birrigrin play, but it contains no resource as yet. Added to the gold portfolio in 2022, it sits 70km north of the Central Sandstone project and has 39 mapped shafts dating back to the early 1900s.
Aurumin says recorded production at Birrigrin resulted in grades up to a super impressive 196g/t gold.
The company will now be hoping that the upcoming drilling results, combined with generating quality drill targets from the new tenements, will soon see it granted entry to WA’s prized million-ounce gold club.
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By Craig Nolan
