VISIBLE gold has been observed in samples obtained from a recently completed drilling program at Ventnor Resources’ Black Dragon Gold Project in Western Australia. The program was designed to test the potential for a new style of mineralization in this gold region northeast of Kalgoorlie and to investigate the strike, dip and plunge components of the prospect.
Ventnor Resources has projects in Western Australia and western Queensland.
A total of 33 reverse circulation (RC) drill holes were completed for 2492 metres of drilling and the average vertical depth per hole was 50 metres. During drilling 15 RC samples were selected on the basis of observed geology and hand portable XRF results. These samples were panned and visible gold and silver were noted in 12 of the samples.
Discrete ore intercepts or any indication of true widths of gold bearing lodes are subject to final assays, which Ventnor expected to receive in September.
The drill program was designed to follow up preliminary exploration on an initial field trip which produced very high grade rock chip assays. Assays on the rock chips resulted in high-grade results for gold, silver and tellurium. These included 64 grams/tonne gold, 38 grams/tonne silver and 7ppm tellurium; 568 grams/tonne gold, 585 grams/tonne silver and 462ppm tellurium; 213 grams/tonne gold, 304 grams/tonne silver and 219ppm tellurium; and 626 grams/tonne gold, 154 grams/tonne silver and 651ppm tellurium.
During the June quarter the company had a program of work approved by the Western Australia Department of Mines and Petroleum for the latest exploration. Ventnor raised almost $600,000 through a share placement in late June that enabled the drilling to take place.
Ventnor’s managing director Bruce Maluish said: “It is encouraging to see visible gold in samples at this early stage and it supports the geological assumptions we are testing in the Black Dragon exploration program so far.
“The observed geology from the RC drilling confirms the company’s belief that Black Dragon is an epithermal-style deposit. The drilling program was designed to recognize the deposit is visually and structurally different to typical West Australian Archean gold deposits and on-site drill hole planning was flexible to deal with the expected variations in dip and strike.”
Black Dragon is 370km northeast of Kalgoorlie and 22km northeast of AngloGold Ashanti and Independence Group’s Tropicana Gold Mine, a project with in excess of 7 million ounces of gold in resources.
drilling program