Auric pinpoints future targets with new WA gold hits

A new air-core (AC) drilling campaign by Auric Mining has turned up further evidence of a potentially significant gold deposit within its Spargoville project near Widgiemooltha in Western Australia.

Results from drilling at the company’s Fugitive and Anomaly 37 prospects show a hit of 4m grading 2.79 grams per tonne including a 1m section running at 10.2g/t, which has now been prioritised as first-up reverse-circulation (RC) target.

The program, which drilled 71 holes for 2259m, also kicked up other enticing results including wide intercepts of 22m at 246 parts per billion gold and 11m at 303ppb from Fugitive. Similarly, the Anomaly 37 prospect also returned promising results, with 5m at 275ppb gold.

Although the latest results have come from holes that were less than 60m deep, the company has reaffirmed it sees potential for further mineralisation, especially at depth. Auric technical director John Utley previously noted there was evidence of a plumbing system extending beneath the shallow mineralisation, referring to the prospects as “enticing”.

Both the Fugitive and Anomaly 37 prospects are now set for deeper RC drilling, with the goal of testing gold mineralisation in fresh rock from 75m to 100m below the surface.

The next steps for Auric at Spargoville involve updating the geological model before getting stuck into further RC drilling. The company is also in the process of completing a heritage survey, which will pave the way for more intense exploration activity.

The Spargoville play is one of Auric’s four key projects alongside its Munda, Chalice West and Jeffreys Find gold operations that all sit in a north-south orientation at the southern end of the mineral-rich Wiluna-Norseman greenstone belt.

Auric is continuing to mine 300,000 tonnes of ore from Jeffreys Find, which once processed through the local Greenfields mill, is expected to generate more than $25 million in gold sales for the company and its partner, BML Ventures. Additionally, at Munda – its other priority operation – a recent deal to acquire all the mineral rights above 150m below surface from WIN Metals is allowing it to plan a resumption of mining and toll treating of the 200,000-ounce resource for as early as January next year.

Management’s business model is pretty simple – find old, unloved mines with stranded ounces, do a deal with a local mill to treat the ore and then find a friendly and capable miner with haulage capacity as a partner.

Given the current gold price, which has burst back to $3741 an ounce today, that money-making plan appears to be working in spades for Auric and its shareholders after spitting out more than $10.5 million in free operating cash flow in the previous 12 months.

Both Jeffreys Find and Munda still have plenty of ounces waiting to be produced and with today’s results, perhaps Spargoville has also been given an opportunity to shine.

Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact: matt.birney@wanews.com.au