Australia-based gold explorer Aureka Limited has kicked off another new drilling campaign, this time at its St Arnaud gold project in Victoria. The company, fresh from a recent $5 million raising, is making good on its promise of a 7000-metre drilling blitz across its trio of prospective Victorian assets.
- At its flagship Irvine Stawell project, drill testing is nearing completion on targets that remain open along strike and at depth, just 20km south of the 5-million-ounce Stawell gold mine.
- The Tandarra joint venture with ASX-listed gold producer Catalyst Metals wrapped up a seven-hole diamond drilling program last month in some of Victoria’s richest historic gold ground.
The St Arnaud program is set for four diamond holes for 1400m, targeting extensions of mineralisation near the historic Comstock open pit, just 2.2 kilometres north of the St Arnaud township. The company has an immediate exploration target of 280,000 to 420,000 ounces. “The company controls tenements across not only the Comstock open pit mine but across the whole St Arnaud goldfield.”, Aureka Limited managing director James Gurry said. The program is expected to wrap up in two to three weeks and the first assays from Tandarra are expected shortly after. Aureka has an existing 304,000-ounce gold resource, which the company aims to amplify with the drilling campaign. A historic goldfield that once churned out a handsome 400,000 ounces at a cracking 15 grams per tonne (g/t), St Arnaud’s allure lies in its rich past and untapped potential. Mined from the mid-1850s to the early 1900s, the goldfield’s quartz reef systems yielded high-grade bounty, which Aureka hopes it can replicate over its 1500 square kilometres of tenure. The St Arnaud program is not just about chasing known gold zones; the company is also eyeing the project’s greenfields potential under the Murray Basin cover to the north, where an air core drilling program and geophysical surveys could unlock a hidden extension of the goldfield’s storied reefs.
“It is great to see the team commence at St Arnaud, one of our key projects and where the company controls tenements across not only the Comstock open pit mine but across the whole St Arnaud goldfield.”
Aureka Limited managing director James Gurry
At the Irvine Stawell project, a drilling program is nearing completion on targets that remain open along strike and at depth, just 20km south of the 5-million-ounce Stawell gold mine. The Tandarra joint venture with ASX-listed gold producer Catalyst Metals wrapped up a seven-hole diamond drilling program last month in some of Victoria’s richest historic gold ground.
- Tandarra is just 50km northwest of Agnico Eagle’s world-beating Fosterville operation and 40km north of the 22M-ounce Bendigo goldfields.
- The ultra-high-grade Fosterville itself churned out 225,000 ounces last year at an otherworldly US$653 (A$1060) per ounce, proving that for the Victorian goldfields, grade really is king.
The ultra-high-grade Fosterville operation has proven that for the Victorian goldfields, grade really is king. Aureka’s three-pronged attack – St Arnaud’s historical promise, Irvine’s advancing resource and Tandarra’s high-grade potential – comes at an opportune time in a record high gold price environment. A list of potential risks and challenges for the drilling campaign can be found below:
| Challenge | Risk Level |
|---|---|
| Technical difficulties with drilling equipment | Medium |
| Weather-related delays | High |
The next few months could prove pivotal for the revived goldie, with assay results looming from Irvine and Tandarra, and St Arnaud’s drills now turning. The company has a strong track record in exploration and has a team of experienced geologists and drillers working on the campaigns. Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting?
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