Exploration at Purdy’s Reward – the project that kicked off the Pilbara gold nugget rush last year – has begun for 2018 with joint venture partners Artemis Resources and Canadian gold play Novo Resources revealing high grade gold results from bulk sampling from the conglomerate zone.
Results from 6-tonne basal conglomerate bulk samples taken by Novo at Purdy’s Reward included some excellent results of 87.7g/t, 46.1g/t, 17.7 g/t, 15.7 g/t and 10.6g/t.
Investors were pleased with the news with Artemis (ASX: ARV) gaining as much as 24%, or 4c, to hit an intraday high of 21c.
The result is from the first of the shallow trenches dug at Purdy’s Reward, near the topographic basement high point for the area, where exposure of the gold bearing units hit daylight.
However, what has Artemis excited is bulk sampling taken below the gold-bearing conglomerates returned gold grades up to 4.1 g/t.
This is an extremely interesting development and further work is required to determine the ultimate significance of gold in the zone below the gold bearing conglomerates,” Artemis executive director Ed Mead said.
“With an improved understanding of the extreme nugget effect at the Purdy’s Reward, increasing the bulk sampling size and a new reliable and consistent processing path now available through SGS Minerals, a lot more bulk sampling can be achieved in a shorter timeframe,” he said.
“Once we have the ability to quickly determine gold grade content, we can more accurately define the extent of the gold mineralisation in these conglomerates and the surrounding rocks.”
Scout diamond core drilling has also begun along a 2.5km corridor stretching from Purdy’s Reward prospect to an “intensely prospected” area called Powerline.
The drill program is designed to evaluate the position, thickness and dip of gold-bearing conglomerates that subcrop along the length of this corridor.
About 60 holes are planned and expected to be drilled over three months.
Novo is the manager of this project under the 50/50 joint venture arrangements.
Today’s news comes after Artemis called on Australia’s peak science body CSIRO to investigate the origin of conglomerate hosted gold in Western Australia’s Pilbara region.
Shares in Artemis were trading at 18.7c at 12:30pm AEDT.
