Tyranna Resources appears to have hit the nail on its head with a new 5 metre intersection grading 25.6 grams per tonne gold being returned from beneath a historical pit at its Eureka gold project near Kalgoorlie.
The intersection started from a shallow 34 metres down-hole and includes the highest ever grade intersected in the history of the Eureka mine, with a metre section grading almost three ounces to the tonne gold, with the hole also ending in mineralisation.
The company said that more than a third of the 23 holes drilled returned ore grade intersections, with four of those holes ending in mineralisation. Some of the other notable results were 12m @ 2.6g/t gold from 20m down-hole including 1m @ 15.8g/t gold from 26m and 5m @ 3.7g/t gold from 23m including 1m @ 13.5g/t gold from 24m.
Management said the results will require follow-up drilling shortly.
These new assay results will be incorporated within an updated resource model for the Eureka project.
Tyranna has already started discussions with nearby processing mills for the sale of ore from any potential mining operation at Eureka.
Managing Director Bruno Seneque said: “The drilling program has no doubt increased our geological confidence in the Eureka (gold) mineralisation. We are particularly pleased with the spectacular grades intersected in multiple holes.”
“The drilling results have given the company the confidence to push on with the objective of monetising our asset and unlocking the extensional and exploration potential on our Eureka mining leases.”
Eureka, located 50km north of Kalgoorlie, is an old open cut that was mined on a small scale many years ago.
Historical mining at Eureka only exploited near surface ores, without serious evaluation of the underground potential of the deposit.
Production between 1985 and 1989 totalled 220,000 tonnes @ 4.5g/t for 32,000 ounces of gold, during which time the prevailing gold price only averaged about USD$400 per ounce
Between October 2017 and April 2018, a tribute arrangement under the previous owners of the project resulted in the mining of 53,000 tonnes @ 3.3g/t for production of about 5,400 ounces of gold.
The latest in-pit drilling results may indicate that Tyranna has locked onto a new high-grade shoot sitting just below the current open pit shell.
This has the potential to be developed by a cutback and provides the company with some impetus to begin unlocking the potential gold resources that are obviously still present adjacent to the Eureka deposit.
By Matt Birney
