Pacgold continues to solidify its Alice River gold project in north Queensland after revealing more high-grade gold assays from the fancied F1a zone.
Step-out drill hole ARDH072 returned 4.1m at 7.6 grams per tonne (g/t) gold, including 1.1m at 16g/t, which bears strong similarities to the high-grade ARDH061 hit (4.9m at 21.4g/t) 50m to the south.
A northern high-grade shoot has also been discovered at F1a, with ARDH073 intersecting 1m at 61.2g/t gold, and 4m at 4.9g/t including 1m at 14.4g/t.
Four high-grade gold shoots have been identified along 800m of strike within the F1a zone, extending to more than 500m of depth.
“The discovery of a fourth high-grade shoot 200m north of the open pit is a tremendous endorsement for our exploration model and provides additional strong evidence that the F1a zone represents the upper portions of a large-scale gold system with high-grade shoots developing from near surface and extending to depth,” Pacgold managing director Tony Schreck said.
“On its own, the F1a zone at the Central Target is a massive gold system over 1.5km in strike and extending to greater than 500m below surface.
“Our exploration program is expanding over the Southern Target where historical shallow drilling (average hole depth of 40m) has defined a near-surface, large-scale gold system with a geochemical footprint that is greater than that of the Central Target.
“Two recent diamond holes have been completed on the Southern Target, with both holes intersecting broad zones of veining and alteration and multiple occurrences of visible gold in one of the holes (results pending).”
Schreck said Pacgold would apply the proven exploration techniques used at the Central Target to the Southern Target, with hopes to identify more high-grade gold zones.
Alice River’s exploration strategies have been based on the Donlin gold model, which led to the discovery of the namesake Tier 1 gold deposit in Alaska.
An important aspect of the Donlin model is the potential for the high-grade zones to have significant vertical extent, as demonstrated at Donlin. The high-grade zones at Alice River are now defined over 520m of vertical extent and are open at depth.