Novo Resources has set its sights on its “highest-priority” targets as it prepares to launch a diamond drill campaign targeting high-grade gold at its Belltopper project within central Victoria’s historically prolific Bendigo Tectonic Zone.
The company says it has identified several new high-priority structural corridors and high-tenor induced-polarisation (IP) chargeability anomalies – some with robust gold-arsenic soil anomalies – to define six drill targets for a 2300m diamond drill campaign within in a zone that has previously given up some 60 million gold ounces.
It comes after Novo reviewed and digitised a mountain of key historic mining and exploration data (including quartz reef location and orientation) to develop a workable and flexible 3D exploration target model, following diamond drilling that was completed early last year. Management says the model is strengthened by detailed 1:500-scale surface mapping, targeted rock-chip sampling, grid soil sampling and ground geophysical surveys.
Novo Resources executive co-chairman and acting chief executive officer Michael Spreadborough said: “Significant work has already gone into drilling, mapping and surface sampling, ground and airborne geophysics and other key techniques to develop an evolving 3D prospectivity model, which provides a solid framework for drill targeting. Belltopper is located only ~50 km south of Agnico Eagle Mines' Fosterville Gold Mine in the Bendigo Tectonic Zone, in which over 60 Moz Au have been produced historically.”
The company says it identified a robust gold-arsenic soil anomaly in a footwall east of the regional north-south-striking Taradale Fault, warranting diamond drill follow-up work. In addition, it undertook ground magnetic and gravity and IP surveys and combined the results with reprocessed airborne magnetic and gravity survey results to identify key structural trends and potential alteration and to interpret sub-surface lithology domain boundaries.
Victorian slate-belt gold deposits invariably exhibit a strong structural control on mineralisation, as observed 50km north at Fosterville, which has an annual gold production of 340,000 ounces. At Belltopper, centrally located between Bendigo and Ballarat, the regional geology trend is north-south, with a myriad of anticline fold closures crosscut by orthogonal gold-bearing quartz reefs and faults.
Novo is planning two holes to test the north-east-striking Leven Star Reef, 80m below previously-drilled, high-grade mineralisation intersections that include 14m at 6.1 grams per tonne gold from 120m and 10m at 4.9g/t gold from 173m. In addition, a fence of holes will test the north-south Doctors Reef and associated anticline hinge.
The strong IP chargeability anomalies, representing zones of increased sulphide and a vector towards gold mineralisation, will be tested in the West Panama and Panama Fault area.
Novo clearly has a wealth of viable high-grade gold targets at Belltopper and the imminent diamond drill program should throw-up a number of significant intersections early in the New Year.
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By Rohan Halfpenny
