Dart readies exploration assault on new Queensland gold play

Dart Mining is preparing to launch exploration activities at its newly-acquired Triumph gold project in Queensland, having identified several promising new targets and areas of potential extension to its existing resource.

Having snapped up the 118,000-ounce project from ASX-listed Sunshine Metals for a bargain price of $2 million in August, management quickly set about analysing the geology, mineral systems models and historical drilling data from the site. A detailed dataset compiled by the previous owners has given the company plenty of preliminary information to work with and suggests there is significant potential for resource expansion.

Triumph already boasts several key hits including 10m at 26.86 grams per tonne gold from 51m, 16m running 8.44g/t from 38m and 16m going 5.48g/t starting at 44m.

Among the identified areas for further investigation is the extension of the eastern section of the Bald Hill resource, which hosts 311,000 tonnes grading 1.08g/t for 18,000 ounces of gold, in the northern corridor of Dart’s ground. Only 13 holes down to an average of 31m have been drilled to date, with the deposit appearing open along strike and with the deeper exploration targets virtually untouched.

Another deposit that needs further investigation is the Constitution inflection zone in the southern corridor, which holds a combined 690,000 tonnes for 56,000 contained ounces of the yellow metal. In particular, management believes an opportunity exists to expand the resource by targeting further footwall vein systems, which will also help to confirm the structural control and vein orientation that links the various domains.

And to add to the low-hanging exploration fruit, historic drilling done at the Advance mine, immediately to the north of Bald Hill, threw up high-grade hits of 3m at 24.9g/t from 17m and 1m of 45.5g/t from 28m. The deeper Brigham-Young target in the southern corridor is also begging for further work, with hits already logged of 6m at 3.9g/t from 188m and 1m of 20.4g/t from 265m.

The ongoing research and activities planning at the Triumph Gold Project is well underway and continues to excite us. Targeting of more conceptual exploration drilling across the lease areas is an important part of our approach as well as initial drilling for resource expansion and upgrade.

Chirnside went on to say that one of the project’s strengths is its readiness for low-cost, drilling operations using the company’s own drilling equipment and crews, which allows it to add significant value to the ongoing development of the project.

Since picking up Triumph, Dart has also confirmed – in a huge vote of confidence in the prospectivity of the area – that it has moved on some extra leases adjoining to the east, effectively trebling its ground-holding in the region.

The main rationale behind the land grab is management’s belief that Triumph holds strong potential as an intrusion-related gold system (IRGS) akin to the privately-owned Ravenswood deposit in Queensland that contains more than 5 million ounces of gold.

The region’s vast prospectivity was first emphasised by Dr Gregg Morrison – representing Metal Bank, the project’s previous owner before Sunshine –who noted that Queensland hosts 130 known IRGS deposits, with 17 of them containing in excess of 1 million ounces of gold.

The company’s immediate priorities are focused on finalising the acquisition of its new tenements, updating the resource estimate and starting the drilling program next month.

At an effective cost of $16.94 per ounce, Dart has found a low-cost entry into advanced gold exploration at Triumph. Given that the price of gold is almost 30 per cent higher than it was at the beginning of the year – currently sitting at about $3950 an ounce and just shy of all-time highs – the company will be as keen as mustard to increase its inventory of the yellow metal as soon as possible.

Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact: matt.birney@wanews.com.au