Torian Resources has wasted no time kicking off a follow-up reverse circulation drilling program at its flagship Mt Stirling gold project about 40km north-west of Leonora in WA after scoring a couple of encouraging drill hits from the “Diorite Block” section of the project. The ASX-listed junior gold explorer intends sinking a further 12 holes for an aggregate drilling coverage of 1,230 metres into the Diorite North and Diorite East prospects, which recently coughed up assays of 1m grading an average 4.66 grams per tonne gold from 109m and 1m at 2.19 g/t from 8m respectively.
The new round of drilling, which comes hot on the heels of Perth-based Torian’s regional reconnaissance drilling program across Diorite that churned out 21 RC holes totalling 2,683m, will be aimed at testing for strike extensions of the gold mineralisation it has just uncovered.
The company recently tabled an interim mineral resource estimate for the Mt Stirling project’s namesake Mt Stirling deposit of 2.05 million tonnes at an average grade of 1.54 g/t for 101,722 ounces of contained gold.
The nearby Stirling Well deposit hosts an additional inferred resource of 253,500 tonnes at 2.01 g/t for 16,384 ounces of contained gold.
Both deposits occur within Mt Stirling’s more advanced “Stirling Block” section.
At Diorite East, the company hopes to tease out more gold strikes from an interpreted target zone of about 460m that takes in the near-surface 1m intersection going 2.19 g/t.
Torian suggests Diorite East shares structural and geological similarities to the Mt Stirling-Viserion structural setting, with both north-west-south-east trending shear zones situated sub-parallel to the regionally significant Ursus fault.
At Diorite North, west of Diorite East, the company will chase down strike extensions and look to establish the continuity and plunge of gold mineralisation in the wake of the 1m at 4.66 g/t intercept beneath the historical “Unexpected Mine” workings.
Torian Resources Executive Director Peretz Schapiro said: “Diorite has always been very exciting for the company as it is a historically mineral-rich tenure situated within a very prolific region of the Goldfields. The prospectivity of Diorite is demonstrated by the incredible grades of some of the historical shallow mines there. We are also eagerly awaiting further drilling results from our ongoing drilling at Mt Stirling, which should be received withing the next couple of weeks.”
Mt Stirling neighbours ASX-listed Red 5’s rapidly developing 4.1-million-ounce King of the Hills gold project, while the Diorite Block in the southern half of Torian’s Mt Stirling ground-holdings contains several historical mines and workings including the uber rich Diorite King gold mine.
According to mindat.org, Diorite King produced 2,800 ounces of gold between 1897 and 1922 from only 1,134 tonnes of ore that went a spectacular reported average grade of 73 g/t gold.
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