Assay results from 21 drill holes at PNG Gold’s Imwauna gold project on Papua New Guinea’s Normanby Island have confirmed very high gold grades within the deepest mineralization discovered to date in the deposit’s south.
Highlights from the drill program at the Milne Bay province project include 32.1 grams/tonne gold over 1.4 metres from 150 metres, which is the deepest mineralized intercept yet recorded, and 20.2 grams/tonne gold over 2.4 metres from 45 metres below the surface.
PNG Gold says the high grade vein intercept appears to identify a new vein not encountered in previous drill holes and which flanks the main vein. This discovery, coupled with the high gold grades, indicates the potential for further adjacent veins which could enhance the size of the deposit as well as the potential for expansion of the southern zone along strike within the main Imwauna vein system.
PNG Gold’s president Dick Whittington says, “We are very encouraged by the extension of the southern high grade zone at depth within the main Imwauna vein system, and even more encouraged that results from IMH 218 indicate that we have potentially discovered an adjacent, high grade vein with new exploration potential. And, as with drilling results nearer to surface, low sulphidation is still occurring - even at these depths. As we have yet to drill the promising Kela’s prospect, our excitement for the exploration potential of the Imwauna property continues.”
Two drill rigs continue to work on the Imwauna project and one will be deployed to Kela’s prospect upon completion of a water draining project there to begin a 5000 metre drill program.
The Kela’s vein system is sub-parallel to, and about 650 metres west of, the Imwauna deposit and no previous drilling has been done on the prospect. Kela’s exploration to date has been confined to mapping of the vein system and by numerous trenches along its 1.2km strike length. Previous results demonstrated the presence of gold mineralized veins in float and bedrock in the trenches all within an extensive gold-in-soil anomaly.
The 68sqkm Imwauna licence also covers the company’s Sehulea project in Milne Bay province, about 80km northeast of the provincial capital of Alotau. NI 43-101 compliant mineral resource estimates for the projects are on track for announcement by June.
Historic exploration drilling in 178 drill holes has outlined a narrow zone of gold mineralization over a strike length of at least 900 metres to an average vertical depth of about 100 metres.
PNG Gold