Junior explorer Meeka Metals has done no harm to its goal of growing the resource at its Murchison gold project by finding more high-grade gold on the western flank of the project’s Turnberry deposit.
Latest highlights from its shallow air-core drilling program include 32m at 3.09 grams per tonne gold from 32m, including 20m grading 4.53 g/t gold and 12m running 3.80 g/t gold from 52m, including 4m going 10.7 g/t gold.
The gold mineralisation lies in a zone untested by previous drilling and remains open to the north and at depth and the company is preparing further drilling to expand the footprint of the shallow, high-grade lodes.
The figures come hard on the heels of diamond drilling in the same area that delivered headline-grabbing figures of a 51m strike at 1.64 g/t gold from 264m, including 21m going 3.44 g/t gold and 2m grading 37.08g/t gold from 366m, including 1m running 62.80 g/t gold.
At the start of the year, assay results returned 16m at 6.67 g/t gold from 20m, including 4m going 24 g/t gold and 29m grading 1.95 g/t gold from 32m, including 6m running 4.065 g/t gold.
Turnberry already has a mineral resource of 11.3 million tonnes grading 1.7g/t for 610,000oz gold and the latest figures will add weight to Meeka’s case that the deposit presents a golden opportunity for open-pit mining followed by an underground option.
That argument was prosecuted in last year’s scoping study and latest assay results – with potentially more reinforcements to come – will bolster that case in a forthcoming Pre-feasibility Study, or “PFS”.
Meeka Managing Director, Tim Davidson said: “These intersections highlight the growth opportunity we see at our Murchison gold project. Shallow, high-grade oxide mineralisation added to the mineral resource through this drilling will have a meaningful impact on the robust outcomes of our 2021 Scoping Study and will be included in the upcoming Pre-feasibility Study.”
The Archean greenstone belt that hosts the Turnberry deposit has previously only been sparingly explored with broad-spaced reconnaissance drilling. The neighbouring St Anne’s prospect, about 3.5km south of Turnberry, is Meeka’s next key drill target.
Though St Anne’s has no mineral resource to date, Meeka believes its host geology and style of mineralisation is like Turnberry’s. RC drilling at St Anne’s has previously delivered assay results of 24m at 4.81g/t gold from 68m, and 36m running 1.02gt gold from 24m.
Last year’s scoping study outlined a plan for a mine with an eight-year lifespan keeping processing operations running for nine years – turning out about 50,000 ounces of gold a year and delivering an internal rate of return of 46 per cent.
Meeka is closing in on a September release for its PFS for Murchison.
In case the job of integrating Turnberry’s latest assay results into the PFS isn’t enough to keep Meeka Metals occupied, assay results from more gold and rare earth drilling, plus rare earth metallurgical results, are all expected in the very near term. Watch this space.
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By Matt Birney
