Wiluna Mining Corporation’s first test of down-plunge extensions of the historic East and West Lodes have yielded strong sulphide mineralisation in the first of eight holes the company has sunk into the leads in WA’s northern goldfields, backing up recent ultra-high-grade gold results at its nearby Bulletin North target.
The initial hole at the East Lode Lower target intersected 8m of strong sulphides, going around 5 per cent pyrite and 5 per cent arsenopyrite in strongly sheared and altered rock that the explorer said are indicative of high-grade gold mineralisation elsewhere in the Wiluna gold system.
There are eight holes to be drilled in the exploration program at East Lode. The wider Wiluna project contains a current mineral resource of 3.5 million ounces going 5.4 grams per tonne gold.
The new sulphide mineralisations are 200m below the East Lode historical workings and mapped mineral resource limits. Wiluna’s remaining seven holes are testing along 1000m of strike and 700m of down-plunge extent on the East and West Lode structures.
Wiluna said it is targeting high-grade shoot discoveries to substantially enhance the early years of the current mining plan with the intention of increasing the underground ore grade and to ramp up gold production.
That goal has been made somewhat easier after recently tabling results from a first-hole probe of its Bulletin North Discovery target, yielding a staggering 3270 g/t gold from 634m and a 1.5m hit going 8.30 g/t gold from 570m with the latter housed in a broader 10m section running 2.80 g/t gold from 563m.
Wiluna Mining Corporation Executive Chair, Milan Jerkovic, said: “This intercept is just what we’re looking for as we expand our focus to discover new high-grade shoots, in addition to our ongoing drilling to methodically infill the existing Mineral Resource.”
“Historically, the East and West Lodes were the largest, high-grade production areas at Wiluna, so we’re seeking a repeat of shoots of similar scale to materially enhance the long-term production profile at Wiluna.”
Jerkovic added that importantly, the intercepts are only 1000m away from the Golden Age and Calais mine areas, so they potentially open a whole new extension to the mineralised system. The distance offers Wiluna the prospect of relatively low-cost and rapid resource and reserve growth.
The historical workings at East Lode produced 720,000 ounces at 6.7 g/t between 1931 and 1946 and the West Lode produced 690,000oz grading 8.6 g/t between 1932 and 1946. Wiluna said when combined with the current mineral resource, the East and West Lodes have a large pre-production endowment of approximately 3.5 million ounces at grades of 5.4 g/t.
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