Meeka Gold Limited could add even more scale to its million-ounce-plus resource at its Murchison project in Western Australia after diamond drilling at its Turnberry deposit delivered a slew of new high-grade gold intercepts that ran almost 63 grams to the tonne gold whilst another stretched as wide as 51m.
The impressive results are from outside the area of a planned open-pit mine the company outlined in its scoping study last year, underlining the project’s growth potential.
The headline grade 62.8 g/t hit ran 1m long and was inside a larger 2m strike at 37.08 g/t gold from 366m. The campaign-best 51m section graded 1.64 g/t gold from 264m.
Other notable results include 47m at 1.30 g/t gold from 256m, 17m going 2.31 g/t gold from 283m, 16m grading 1.04 g/t gold from 56m and 47m running 1.30 g/t gold from 256m.
Another hole delivered a 2m strike going 11.53 g/t gold inside a larger 47m intercept at 1.30 g/t gold from 256m.
Perth-based Meeka says its latest assays demonstrate the continuity of thick zones of gold below the scoping pit.
Results are still pending for more than half a dozen additional holes, including one peppered with visible, high-grade gold mineralisation.
Meanwhile, infill drilling is continuing at the western edge of the proximal Turnberry Central deposit, where shallow, high-grade gold was previously intercepted.
The notable results from earlier work include 16m at 6.67 g/t gold from 20m, 29m grading 1.95 g/t gold from 32m and 21m going 2.28 g/t gold from 100m.
Meeka expects assay results from its rolling work at Turnberry Central to start trickling in later this month.
More than 600,000 tonnes of gold has already been defined at Turnberry within a highly productive 7km-long mineralised system with the fruitful patch also taking in the shallow, high-grade St Anne’s prospect.
Previous drilling at the prospect turned up a batch of significant strikes, including a 24m intercept going 4.81 g/t gold from 68m with a richer 4m interval running a healthy 20.30 g/t gold.
Interestingly, the results from St Anne’s are yet to be included in the company’s 1.1 million-ounce resource estimate.
Meeka is closing in on a September pre-feasibility study, or “PFS” for the Murchison project. Management says it will feed the strikes from Turnberry into its assessment.
The PFS will look to scrub up an already-solid set of numbers first presented in its 2021 scoping study.
Meeka Gold’s study indicated the project could pump out about 50,000 ounces of gold per year across its eight-year mine life. A nice set of numbers.
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By Matt Birney
