Chalice Mining attracted global attention for its discovery of the Gonneville deposit in the West Yilgarn region of WA.
Now, the company is looking to expand its scope in the region, with two “significant new gold targets” identified at the 4600-square-kilometre Barrabarra project.
Soil geochemical surveys at Barrabarra identified the Recherche West and Warspite gold prospects. Recherche West is a 15km-long east-west-trending gold soil geochemical anomaly spanning a previously unrecognised greenstone belt, while Warspite extends 2km along and boasts similar characteristics.
“The discovery of the Gonneville deposit effectively unlocked a new mineral province along the western margin of the Yilgarn Craton – one that is still at an early stage in its discovery history,” Chalice chief executive officer and managing director Alex Dorsch said.
“Building on the Gonneville discovery, Chalice’s exploration team has made solid progress in identifying new areas with strong discovery potential.
“This work has culminated in (the) delineation of two new very large gold targets, one of which is hosted within an unrecognised greenstone belt, and another in the Koolanooka greenstone belt, both of which are planned for drilling later this year.”
Dorsch said the company will look to explore Recherche West and Warspite with the hope of making further breakthrough discoveries.
“Given the size of the deposits found to date in the West Yilgarn – Gonneville with more than 17Moz PGE (platinum group elements)-gold and Boddington with more than 40Moz of gold – we believe this low-cost exploration is clearly worth pursuing in parallel with ongoing pre-feasibility work on the Gonneville project,” Dorsch said.
Chalice is planning aircore drill programs at Barrabarra in the fourth quarter of 2024, with timing subject to heritage clearance, government approvals and landholder consents.
The company continues to advance its Gonneville pre-feasibility study, which is exploring a staged, high-grade development scenario.
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