Greenstone Resources Limited’s (ASX:GSR) Phase-1 drill campaign is already returning multiple high-grade drill intersections in exploration activities at its flagship Burbanks Gold Project in Western Australia.
The Phase-1 drill campaign continue to reaffirm the high-grade nature of Burbanks. The Burbanks Gold Project is located on a granted mining lease just 9.0km south of Coolgardie, Western Australia and is supported by a network of existing infrastructure including grid power, sealed roads and several neighbouring toll treatment plants.
BBRC371D and BBRC373D both form part of the current 10,000 metre drill campaign targeting the unclassified mineralisation which supports the recent JORC (2012) Exploration Target of between 215,000 – 330,000oz of contained gold.
Significant intercepts from BBRC371D and BBRC373D include:
- BBRC371D: 7.00 metres @ 57.84g/t Au from 90.0 metres, including: 1.00metres@375.00g/tAufrom90.0metres
- BBRC373D: 3.00 metres @ 4.18g/t Au from 17.0 metres, including: 1.00metre@10.00g/tAufrom19.0metres
- BBRC371D: 2.00 metres @ 5.88g/t Au from 38.0 metres
Both BBRC371D and BBRC373D are outside of the current resource estimate of 3.4Mt @ 2.5g/t gold for 277,547oz and are supported by a number of other surrounding high-grade intercepts, including:
- BBRC219: 11.0 metres @ 20.82/t Au from 60.0 metres
- BBRC340D: 4.9 metres @ 30.46g/t Au from 292.1 metres
- BBRC341D: 6.6 metres @ 9.79g/t Au from 395.9 metres
We are highly encouraged by the first results from the Phase- 1 drill campaign at Burbanks, having returned multiple high-grade intercepts in the first holes drilled which are in line with the historical underground production grades from the Burbanks Gold Project of 324,000oz @ 22.7g/t Au,” Managing Director and CEO, Chris Hansen, said.
“Furthermore, with BBRC371D having returned 1.00 metre @ 375.0g/t Au, serves to place the Burbanks Gold Project in the top ten gold intercepts for predevelopment projects in Western Australia for 2022.
“Importantly these most recent intercepts serve to highlight the potential to significantly increase the resource base at Burbanks over the coming months through the completion of the 10,000 metre Phase- 1 drill campaign which is targeting the unclassified mineralisation supporting the Exploration Target.
“Following the completion of the Phase-1 drill campaign in March 2023, we look forward to testing the broader strike and depth extensions at Burbanks, which remain open in all directions and are not included in the existing Resource or Exploration Target.”
The Burbanks Gold Project includes the Burbanks Mining Centre, as well as over 5.5 kilometres of the highly prospective Burbanks Shear Zone, historically the most significant gold producing structure within the Coolgardie Goldfield. The Burbanks Mining Centre comprises both the Birthday Gift and Main Lode underground deposits where recorded historic underground production totalled 324,479 ounces, at an average grade of 22.7g/t Au from predominantly the upper 140 metres.
However, despite this history of high-grade production, there had been limited exploration attention focussed to the north of the Burbanks Mining Centre. This northern area has been the focus of more recent drilling activities over the past twelve months, however much of the drilling completed remains too widely spaced to support either indicated or inferred resource classifications. As such, a conservative methodology was adopted in the estimation of an Exploration Target which is exclusively defined by this wide spaced drilling which demonstrates the continuity of high- grade mineralisation at depth and supports drill hole targeting for the Phase 1 campaign.
Importantly, the Exploration Target does not include any of the untested along strike or at depth extensions which have yet to be drilled, however these areas provide an excellent exploration target as they represent the continuation of the main mineralising structure and will be drill tested in Phases-2 and Phases-3 of the planned exploration program.
Recent drilling to the north has shown the development of two discrete zones of high-grade mineralisation, often hosting coarse visible gold, indicating a zone of intense deformation which subsequently allowed for significant volumes of mineralising fluids to pass through. Importantly, this recent drilling continues to support the exploration model of multiple high-grade quartz veins parallel to the main mineralised shear zone. These intercepted quartz reefs are directly analogous to the Tailor Lode, which was observed during mining at Birthday Gift.
Upcoming campaign
The company has subsequently defined a three-phase drill campaign to test the true geological potential of the Burbanks Gold project across the entire 5.5km strike of the Burbanks Shear Zone.
- Phase 1: 10,000m infill drill campaign targeting unclassified mineralisation as defined by the Exploration Target
- Phase 2: 15,000m targeting down dip and along strike extensions of known mineralised lodes
- Phase 3: 25,000m targeting greenfields targets and extensions down to 500 metres
