After another solid field campaign, Classic Minerals has produced a maiden resource at its Kat Gap project near Southern Cross in WA of almost 93,000 ounces grading 2.96 grams per tonne gold. The new resource has now laid a solid foundation for the company to go ahead and apply for a mining lease across the deposit and run some initial numbers around getting into early production.
At nearly 3 grams per tonne gold the company could most likely investigate toll treating options in the region to get into quick and easy cash-flow.
Importantly, the maiden resource at Kat Gap does not include recent results from the northern-most and southern-most extents of the deposit that blew the proverbial socks off the deposit with one 3m hit grading two ounces to the tonne gold from only 36m, including a single metre grading a whopping 181g/t gold. Another good result not included in the resource at this stage is a 10m hit grading 1.48g/t from 24m from the south.
These numbers didn’t make the deadlines for inclusion but will be included in the next resource update which will probably include results from additional drilling that Classic is planning, given that the deposit is still open in all directions.
External consultants, Cadre Geology and Mining put together the resource at Kat Gap and said a nominal cut-off grade of 0.7g/t was used to model the gold mineralisation in 3D.
The consultants also said that because of the inherently nuggety gold present in the system at Kat Gap, a cut-off grade of 0g/t gold was used when reporting the mineral estimate. The estimate came out exactly at 975,722 tonnes grading 2.96g/t for 92,856 ounces of gold.
The Kat Gap deposit is located on a granite-greenstone geological contact with gold mineralisation primarily hosted in sheared granites. The gold mineralisation is about 3m to 4m wide and has been modelled to around 150m depth.
Classic recently stumbled apon quartz float - or quartz cobbles and stones - right along where the granite-greenstone contact has been mapped in the field. The company said that this opens up the potential for Kat Gap to extend to more than 2.5 kilometres in length. The currently combined length of the deposit has been modelled to 540m in length.
A 60-metre wide, Proterozoic-aged “dolerite dyke” has intruded through the deposit that has resulted in a higher density of drilling at the northern end. Generally, in gold deposits in the Yilgarn of WA, such as at Kat Gap, Proterozoic dykes are un-mineralised and often wipe out gold as they intrude through - this is why traditionally, companies wouldn't waste time or money drilling into them.
Classic however has recently found that gold sometimes occurs within its Proterozoic dyke with 8m grading 19.05g/t gold from 32m reported. The company said that gold may have been later remobilised along the same structural north-east trend as the Proterozoic dyke but that more drilling is needed to confirm the theory.
Kat Gap is located about 70km south-southeast of the ASX listed company’s flagship Forrestania gold project.
Classic’s global resource across the region now stands at just over 8M tonnes grading 1.52g/t for 403,906 ounces of gold.
Classic is now planning to launch a scoping study and look at potential open pit mining scenarios, driven by the strong Australian gold price. These studies will be underpinned by metallurgical testing and most likely more drilling for the $7m market capped company.
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