ASX-listed gold explorer, Kairos Minerals has returned a clutch of encouraging near-surface gold drill hits from a round of RC drilling at its Mount York gold project approximately 100 kilometres south of Port Hedland in WA’s Pilbara region. One of the more notable intercepts from the 16-hole program for an aggregate drilling coverage of 2,130 metres was 5m going 2.67 grams per tonne gold from 60m including 3m at 3.78 g/t from 61m and 1m at 6.37 g/t gold from 63m at the project’s Old Faithful deposit.
The Perth-based company says the recent drilling also encountered a potential new gold lode at Old Faithful that yielded an intersection of 8m grading 2.09 g/t from 92m, whilst the larger nearby Mount York deposit chimed in with a 4m intersection grading 2.09 g/t from 82m.
According to Kairos, the gold mineralisation remains open along strike and down dip at both deposits.
Kairos Minerals Executive Chairman, Terry Topping said: “We’re very encouraged by these positive results, particularly at the Old Faithful deposit where we have identified several mineralised extensions to the known gold mineralisation, as well as a potential new lode.”
“Planning is now well under way for a much larger, 20,000-metre RC drilling campaign at the Mount York Project, which is expected to commence in April. This program will continue targeting extensions to the current resource areas, as well upgrading the existing resources into higher-confidence categories. These results will feed into initial mining studies for Mount York, which are now under way.”
Kairos’ 12 RC drill holes for a total of 1,766m dedicated to Old Faithful were designed to extend the known mineralisation and infill the deposit’s existing indicated and inferred resource of 2.02 million tonnes of ore at an average grade of 1.37 g/t for 89,400 ounces of contained gold.
The company says the drill rig turned up three mineralised zones at Old Faithful, including two zones extending the known gold lodes and one zone from a new gold lode.
Kairos also sunk four RC holes for a total of 364m into the Mount York deposit. Two were abandoned, however, before reaching the planned depths due to deteriorating weather conditions and drilling issues.
Mount York’s latest published inferred and indicated resource stands at 17.26 million tonnes of ore at 1.26 g/t for 697,700oz of contained gold.
The company told delegates at this week’s RIU Explorers Conference that the existing deposit at Mount York will cornerstone the open-pit mining studies for the project.
Kairos has appointed Mt Magnet Drilling Company to undertake the follow-up 20,000m RC campaign at its Pilbara project, with drilling expected to commence in April.
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