Great Southern Mining has locked down an initial term 21-year mining lease over its Southern Star prospect in the Duketon project area where drilling continues to progress with over 50 per cent of its 5,200-metre program now complete. Drilling quartz dolerites on strike with previous hits, the company expects assay results this month.
Securing the mining lease was mission critical following Great Southern’s successful work within the underlying exploration permit. The new lease also provides access to the Bandya Road that continues on to the company’s Amy Clarke prospect. This access road opens options for road train transport and toll treatment plants.
Great Southern Mining Executive Chairman, John Terpu, said: “Securing the grant of the Mining Lease is a pivotal moment for Great Southern Mining. It highlights the potential of Southern Star and is another step towards future mining activities in the larger Duketon Gold Project area. The team has worked exceptionally hard since we acquired the Southern Star exploration licence and with the current RC program over halfway complete, we eagerly await the results and are looking forward to updating the market on the Company’s progression of the Project.”
Southern Star has three prospects in the Duketon project area being Southern Star, Amy Clarke and Ogilvies. Encouragingly, previous drilling at Southern Star intersected 5 metres at 8.2 grams per tonne gold on Amy Clarke with a premium 1m at 33.5 g/t gold from a depth of 33 metres.
The Duketon project is located only 45km north of Laverton in WA’s prolific north-eastern Goldfields and only 4km along strike from Regis Resources’ 390,000-ounce Ben Hur gold deposit.
Great Southern is also preparing to get back on the ground at its Edinburgh Park project in Queensland where significant flooding has taken place. Now the ground has begun to dry, the company says its crews are itching to get back on the job. Extensive preparation work has already taken place covering the Mt Dillon, Fish Creek and Edinburgh prospects including extensive reviews of current target prospects and 2021 field activities.
Getting back on the ground in Queensland, with field inspections and target validation programs scheduled for later this month and a mining lease now granted in WA, Great Southern shareholders can look forward to plenty of news in the months ahead.
It’s now game on for Great Southern.
Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact: matt.birney@businessnews.com.au
By Matt Birney
