Maximus Resources has begun 1500 metres of RC drilling over its Hilditch Gold Project and Kandui Nickel prospect, both lying within its expansive Spargoville tenements in Western Australia.
Just one of its highly prospective regional gold deposits at Spargoville, work at Hilditch is directed at bolstering its gold resource after the return of shallow and high-grade gold intercepts.
The established 132,000t @ 1.77 g/t Au Inferred JORC resource at Hilditch is yet to include last year’s drilling and is based on a single main lode and several drill holes which ended in gold mineralisation but were never investigated further.
Maximus Managing Director Tim Wither said the company’s latest drill program at Hilditch is a follow up to the previous campaign which successfully identified two previously unknown gold-bearing lodes.
Current gold resources at Hilditch are shallow and this drill programme specifically targets the extension of all known lodes. Hilditch’s shallow gold resource is very amenable to rapid open pit mining, with this latest drill programme designed for a potential resource update,” Mr Wither said.
And at Kandui, Mr Wither added that significant nickel mineralisation has been identified, and recent geological modelling had suggested opportunities for a high-grade shoot.
“Legacy exploration focused on outcropping nickel-bearing gossans which may not be the true basal contact position, and this programme will provide information vital to assessing the potential for high-grade zones of nickel sulfides. Drilling will also incorporate an untested area, identified through elevated PGE soil sampling,” he said.
Gold growth potential
Intersecting the parallel lodes at Hilditch greatly increases the potential for rapid resource growth from shallow mineralisation.
Maximus see a near-term mining opportunity at the deposit, sitting in a fertile Spargoville Shear Zone and granted mining lease next to the state highway and several toll-treating processing plants.
Maximus already holds a large 251,500-ounce gold resource at nearby Wattle Dam after bringing in a fivefold increase and will look to keep adding to its combined 320,600-ounce foundation while exploring its tenements’ potential for nickel and lithium just 25 kilometres away from world class Kambalda.
