Join our daily newsletter At The Bell to receive exclusive market insights
- Middle Island Resources (MDI) has identified a fifth new gold deposit in the final phase one drilling campaign at its Sandstone gold project in WA
- This new deposit, named Ridge, returned peak results of 8.77 grammes per tonne gold
- Middle Island also received results grading up to 4.48g/t gold from the Shillington Deposit
- Phase two drilling is scheduled to begin next week and results will be announced throughout June and July
- Middle Island is steady in mid-morning trade and shares are selling for 1.4 cents each
Middle Island Resources (MDI) has identified a fifth new gold deposit in the final phase one drilling campaign at its Sandstone gold project.
The Sandstone gold project is located 12 kilometres south of Sandstone and approximately 400 kilometres northwest of Kalgoorlie in Western Australia.
The company has now completed its phase one 13,400-metre reverse circulation (RC) drilling program at the project and this marks the second of four planned programs at Sandstone.
This phase one RC drilling program focused on open-pit targets at Sandstone and tested a total of 14 gold deposits.
The aim of this drilling was to extend the mineral resource, reclassify the mineral resources from inferred to indicated, and update the JORC code 2004 to JORC 2012.
The six deposits of Two Mile Hill, Shillington, Wirraminna, Goat Farm, Twin Shafts and Plum Pudding contributed to this.
While the remaining eight deposits have had little to no exploration, they represent a strong potential.
These include Ridge, Davis, McIntyre, Wirraminna Laterite, McClaren, Old Town Well, and Tailing South and East.
Shillington deposit
RC drilling at Shillington was designed to extend and provide further confidence in the existing JORC 2012 indicated and inferred mineral resources.
Multiple holes were drilling between the Shillington and Shillington North deposits in aims to outline a mineralised link and combine the two deposits into one.
Better intercepts include eight metres at 4.48g/t gold from 45 metres, four metres at 3.32g/t gold from 21 metres, and 10 metres at 3.02g/t gold from 121 metres.
A single RC hole was also drilled on a new section located to the south of Shillington and returned results of three metres at 6.86g/t gold from 67 metres and two metres at 1.92g/t gold from 62 metres.
All of these results suggest that slight mineral resource upgrades may be possible.
Phase two drilling will focus on this new southern area to confirm a resource extension.
Ridge prospect
Recent geophysical reviews at Ridge has identified mineralised BIF (banded iron formation) and metasediments with historic intercepts of three metres at 8.77g/t gold, eight metres at 4.14g/t gold, and 13 metres at 3.81g/t gold.
Mineralisation at Ridge spans over a length of 225 metres and represents a fifth new gold deposit at Sandstone.
Approximately four RC holes were drilled at the southern end of Ridge, aiming to establish continuity of gold mineralisation with the McClaren prospect in the southeast.
Unfortunately, no significant assay results were received.
Shillington-Ridge target
Geological mapping and reviews of previous data has identified a highly prospective 1.15-kilometre target that extends from the northernmost portion at Ridge to the southernmost portion at Shillington.
No previous drilling has been undertaken along the entirety of this target and Middle Island is planning to test this target as part of its phase two program.
Goat Farm deposit
RC drilling from Goat Farm returned results of 10 metres at 1.73g/t gold from 58 metres, three metres at 1.57g/t gold from 60 metres, and two metres at 1.54g/t gold from 60 metres.
These results are consistent with previous results and have confirmed the continuity of mineralisation between Goat Farm and Twin Shafts.
The results also allow the existing Goat Farm JORC 2004 mineral resource to be upgraded to JORC 2012.
G2 and G3 gravity targets
Three RC holes were drilled at the G2 gravity target and four were drilled at G3.
Only basalts were encountered and no significant gold assays were returned.
“While largely consistent with the prior drill intercepts, the new Shillington results are likely to lead to an increase in mineral resources and a reclassification of the limited remaining inferred material to an indicated category,” Managing Director Rick Yeates commented.
“Identification of a possible southeast extension to the deposit, which will be assessed as part of the phase two RC drilling, provides further upside,” he said.
Phase two drilling is scheduled to begin next week and results will be announced throughout June and July.
Middle Island is steady in mid-morning trade and shares are selling for 1.4 cents each at 10:46 am AEST.
