Pinjin Gold Project
Laverton Tectonic Zone
The Pinjin Gold Project is located within the 30Moz Laverton Tectonic Zone (host to Sunrise Dam, Granny Smith, Rebecca, Anglo Saxon, and Wallaby projects), only 25 km north along strike from Ramelius Resources’ (ASX: RMS) Rebecca Gold Project. With historic work identifying open gold mineralisation from shallow levels, immediate work is focused on testing mineralisation continuity. At Kirgella and Pinjin South, tenure is the subject of a farm-in over the next two years to expand upon known mineralisation. Between this tenure and KalGold’s existing tenure and applications, the Company has established a significant presence in a strategic and important region.
Highlights
- Binding Agreements executed to enter into a Farm-In to acquire 75% interest in tenure at Kirgella and Pinjin South, 140 km ENE of Kalgoorlie
- Tenements lie on an immature Archaean greenstone belt within the 30 Moz Laverton Tectonic Zone, providing over 22 km strike between Hawthorn Resources’ Anglo Saxon gold mine to the north and Ramelius Resources’ Rebecca gold project to the south
- Exceptional drilling results from October 2023 RC drilling at the Kirgella Gift and Providence targets (Pinjin Project) with the target area expanded over 250% to more than 1,150 m strike length (up from 300-500 m). Gold mineralisation is open in every direction.
- Strong similarities to deposits at Rebecca Gold Project 21 km to the south (Ramelius Resources, ASX:RMS), where gold mineralisation is hosted within larger, broad zones of gold anomalism.
- By defining these anomalous zones, three thick gold lodes are recognised at Kirgella Gift, and two at Providence. Numerous, thinner, less continuous lodes are also evident in the footwall and hanging wall.
- An initial JORC Code (2012) Mineral Resource Estimate at Kirgella Gift and Providence of 2.34 Mt @ 1.0 g/t Au for 76,400 oz of gold from only 3 m depth (0.5 g/t Au cut-off) was announced 25 July 2024.
- Highly economic discovery with KalGold’s direct exploration expenditure cost (drilling and assay) of only ~A$4.20 per gold ounce.
- The combined Kirgella Gift and Providence MRE is of a similar geometry, mineralisation size and grade to Ramelius Resources Duke deposit at Rebecca, which contains 2.7 Mt @ 1.1 g/t Au for 98,000 ounces of gold (ASX: RMS 14 September 2023).
- With a number of high-quality exploration targets across KalGold’s Pinjin land holding (ASX Announcement 3 April 2024), and the recently defined Kirgella Gift and Providence MRE, the Company sees opportunity for further discoveries within the Pinjin area.
- Next steps: Gold mineralisation at Kirgella Gift and Providence remains open at depth and along strike between each deposit. Aircore drilling was completed in Sep 24, with results pending.
- An aeromagnetic survey is underway to complete data across the project driving discovery of gold targets in under explored areas.
Classification | Prospect | Tonnes (Mt) | Au Grade (g/t) | Au (oz) | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Inferred | Kirgella Gift | 1.81 | 1.0 | 58,500 | |
Providence | 0.53 | 1.1 | 17,900 | ||
Total | 2.34 | 1.0 | 76,400 | ||
Note totals may not sum due to rounding. |
KalGold Managing Director Matt Painter said:
“KalGold is proud to report the first Mineral Resource Estimate at the Kirgella Gift and Providence gold deposits. It totals ~76,000 oz defined at over 1.0 g/t Au from only 3m depth, remains open in several directions, and is considered the first step in defining the full potential of the Kirgella Gift and Providence gold deposits. Pleasingly, we have defined a shallow gold resource at a very low cost to the Company of around A$4.20 per gold ounce.
The Kirgella and Providence mineral resource estimate is comparable to other deposits within the Laverton Tectonic Zone and is considered typical of the region. This is particularly true of some of the constituent deposits at Ramelius Resources’ (ASX:RMS) Rebecca Gold Project, around 20 km to the south along strike.
KalGold now has defined a total resource base of 214,300 oz of gold. The increased resource base enables KalGold to commence high level mining optimisation studies to assess pathways to production. KalGold looks forward to continuing to progress its work in the Pinjin area with the aim of significantly growing this initial JORC Code (2012) resource and defining a suite of additional shallow resources.”
About the Pinjin Project
Located 140 km east-northeast of the City of Kalgoorlie-Boulder, KalGold’s Pinjin Project is hosted within the NW-SE trending regional structural domain known as the Laverton Tectonic Zone (LTZ). The LTZ hosts over 20 significant gold deposits including Sunrise Dam, Wallaby, Granny Smith, Red October, Anglo Saxon, Rebecca and several gold fields which cumulatively contain more than 30 million ounces of gold.
However, the southern part of the Laverton Tectonic Zone (and neighbouring Celia Tectonic Zone) is less explored than the northern area, largely due to poorer outcrop. KalGold believes this is why some of the largest discoveries in recent years, like Rebecca (Ramelius Resources ASX: RMS) and Lake Roe (Breaker Resources ASX: BRB), are located in this region.
With KalGold recognising the significant potential of the area to host large-scale gold deposits, the Company has, since listing, focussed on building a ground position in the area. KalGold aims to continue to establish a significant land holding in what it believes is one of the most prospective parts of the Eastern Goldfields province.
In May 2023, KalGold added significantly to their tenement holding through an acquisition which includes an option to acquire 75% interest in tenure at Kirgella and Pinjin South, at the southern end of the Pinjin goldfield. In addition, the Company will acquire a 100% interest in tenure at Rebecca West (E28/3135-36). The total tenement package covers ~48.9 km² on an immature Archean greenstone belt within a world-class gold precinct which hosts Ramelius Resources’ 1.1 Moz Rebecca Gold Project immediately to the south along strike.
The new tenure, and KalGold’s granted tenure and applications cover a distinct flexure in the Laverton Tectonic Zone which controls and hosts mineralisation at Sunrise Dam, Wallaby and many other deposits. Moving southward, the flexure re-orients the structures from SE-striking at Pinjin to north-south-striking near Kirgella and further southward. Much of this area is unexplored or very poorly explored.
Kirgella Gift & Providence
- An initial JORC Code (2012) Mineral Resource Estimate at Kirgella Gift and Providence of 2.34 Mt @ 1.0 g/t Au for 76,400 oz of gold from only 3 m depth (0.5 g/t Au cut-off) was announced 25 July 2024.
- Highly economic discovery with KalGold’s direct exploration expenditure cost (drilling and assay) of only ~A$4.20 per gold ounce.
- The combined Kirgella Gift and Providence MRE is of a similar geometry, mineralisation size and grade to Ramelius Resources Duke deposit at Rebecca, which contains 2.7 Mt @ 1.1 g/t Au for 98,000 ounces of gold (ASX: RMS 14 September 2023).
- With a number of high-quality exploration targets across KalGold’s Pinjin land holding (ASX Announcement 3 April 2024), and the recently defined Kirgella Gift and Providence MRE, the Company sees opportunity for further discoveries within the Pinjin area.
The main area of historic focus on the new tenure is at Kirgella Gift, around 13 km south of Anglo Saxon pit. Here, thick, high-grade mineralisation was discovered at shallow levels along 250 metres of strike and remains open in all directions.
Kirgella Gift sits within a geological package of strongly sheared magnetic and sulphidic rocks that extend for a length of approximately 5 km. An associated pronounced geochemical anomaly extends over 5 km by 1 km. Gold mineralisation coincides with distinct breaks and demagnetised zones in a magnetic ridge.
Historic drilling at Kirgella Gift (prior to 2011) identified shallow, high-grade gold mineralisation. Impressive results included:
- RC drill hole KGRC004 (drilled in 2011) contained an intercept of 33m at 3.1g/t Au from 51m, including:
- 12m at 4.66g/t Au from 52m,
- 2m at 7.01g/t Au from 73m, and
- 1m at 14.25g/t Au from 80m.
- In 1999, discovery aircore drillhole KSR006 returned 32m at 2.61g/t Au from 13m, including:
- 6m at 2.61g/t Au from 18m,
- 5m at 3.75g/t Au from 27m, and
- 7m at 4.47g/t Au from 37m.
These holes were drilled by different companies using different drill methods and variable assay suites (with inherently different detection limits and sensitivities).
In 2023, KalGold undertook several phases of RC drill holes, with phase 1 in the vicinity of the above historic holes, which identified broad zones of shearing and alteration contained poly-deformed, zoned, quartz-carbonate(-pyrite) veining approximately corresponding to historic mineralisation intercepts. Visible gold was identified at 50 m depth in drill hole KGRC23002. Cautionary Statement: Visible gold does not provide precise, accurate, or repeatable indications of gold grade. Laboratory assay results are required to determine the widths and grades of any mineralisation reported in preliminary geological logging.
On 25 October 2023, Kalgold announced exceptional results from the next phase of RC drilling:
- Shallow, high-grade intercepts at Providence, including:
- KGRC23008: 11 m at 2.51 g/t Au from 32 m
including 4 m at 5.63 g/t Au from 39 m - KGRC23009: 14 m at 1.32 g/t Au from 125 m
including 2 m at 4.45 g/t Au from 132 m
- KGRC23008: 11 m at 2.51 g/t Au from 32 m
- Kirgella Gift intercepts build on historic data at shallow and deeper levels, moving the dataset one step closer to defining a JORC Code (2012) Mineral Resource Estimate.
- KGRC23007: 11 m at 1.56 g/t Au from 24 m
including 4 m at 2.98 g/t Au from 27 m
and 6 m at 1.18 g/t Au from 45 m - KGRC23011: 10 m at 1.16 g/t Au from 85 m
including 1 m at 2.90 g/t Au from 88 m
and 15 m at 0.98 g/t Au from 166 m
including 4 m at 2.14 g/t Au from 173 m - Multiple lodes evident with gold mineralisation open in all directions.
- All intercepts are encased within coherent, sub-grade shear zones which assists correlation, interpretation, and targeting.
- KGRC23007: 11 m at 1.56 g/t Au from 24 m
- Coherent, sheared gold mineralisation also tagged at Kirgella North (KGRC23004: 4 m at 1.50 g/t Au from 93 m), 90 m north of Kirgella Gift.
The Providence prospect is situated only 700m south of Kirgella Gift and likewise corresponds with demagnetisation on a break in a magnetic ridge. The prospect’s discovery was one of the last actions taken by the previous explorer and was never systematically followed up. Prior RC drilling is limited to only two holes for 290m. Within these, a significant intercept was defined: 10m at 2.11g/t Au from 71m, including 3m at 3.41g/t Au from 78m, in KGRC020.
Wessex and the Harbour Lights southern extension
The Wessex and Harbour Lights prospects are located on tenure immediately adjacent to the new farm-in tenements to the south of the Anglo Saxon gold mine at Pinjin South. In both cases, there has been no exploration on the farm-in tenure.
At Wessex, historic drilling intercepted gold mineralisation right up to the P31/2102 tenement boundary. To the east of the tenement boundary, the Wessex prospect has never been drill tested. There is no outcrop at Wessex nor along its strike extent.
At Harbour Lights, significant intercepts were the focus of exploration efforts by several historic companies including Little River Resources in the mid 1980s. The strike extent of the Harbour Lights mineralised system extends onto KalGold’s E31/1127, following a disrupted magnetic ridge into the farm-in tenure. Historic intercepts occur around 400-800 m north of the E31/1127 tenement boundary. Aircore drilling at Harbour Lights during Q2 2024 showed indicators of gold mineralisation including low level gold and arsenic anomalism, quartz veining, and associated pyrite mineralisation.
Both prospects are hosted by the sheared volcano-sedimentary sequence that constitutes the Laverton Tectonic Zone at Pinjin. Mineralisation is associated with quartz-carbonate veining and alteration selvages at both prospects, similar to that at Anglo Saxon to the north and Kirgella Gift to the south.
KalGold ran a successful Aircore Drill Program at Wessex and Harbour Lights during Q2 2024:
- Extensive, thick gold mineralisation and anomalism has been discovered at the Wessex target.
- New intercepts include:
- PSAC24001: 28 m at 1.27 g/t Au from 36m
including 8 m at 1.90 g/t Au from 44 m
and 8 m at 2.15 g/t Au from 56 m - PSAC24029: 12 m at 1.17 g/t Au from 52 m
including 4 m at 3.07 g/t Au from 56 m
- PSAC24001: 28 m at 1.27 g/t Au from 36m
- These results are exceptional for aircore drilling, illustrating the enormous potential of KalGold’s Pinjin Project at the southern end of the Pinjin Goldfield.
- The Wessex prospect shows evidence of being part of the broader Anglo Saxon gold mineralised system, with Hawthorn Resources’ (ASX:HAW) open pit mine located less than 1 km from the drill program.
- New intercepts include:
- Results along the southern extension of the Harbour Lights target are more typical of an aircore drilling program. Indicators of gold mineralisation include low level gold and arsenic anomalism, quartz veining, and associated pyrite mineralisation.
- For details, see ASX announcement 23 May 2024.
- KalGold has undertaken follow-up Aircore drilling was completed in Sep 24, with results pending.
T12 Prospect
The T12 Prospect lies 1.5 km north of Kirgella Gift and was defined by Newmont in 2008.
A number of anomalous aircore and RAB end of hole anomalies were followed up by RC or DD drilling. However, follow-up drilling failed to identify anomalies at depth and the vast majority of these anomalies were cancelled.
The most significant DD intersection included 5.9m @ 7.2 g/t Au from 89.7 m in NEWPJDD0001. The interval is reported to be within a near vertical quartz-chlorite-carbonate-chalcopyrite-pyrite vein.
However, follow up diamond drilling to the immediate north and south of NEWPJDD0001 by Newmont and later by Renaissance reportedly failed to reproduce the high-grade results. A number of additional anomalous aircore anomalies remain to be followed up, including 6m @ 1.4 g/t Au from 93m (NEWPJAC0044).
T15 Prospect
The T15 Prospect lies on E28/2654 and is located 1.5 km southwest of Kirgella Gift.
Renaissance conducted reconnaissance aircore drill testing of the prospect in 2011 with results confirming the presence of significant anomalous gold. A total of 47 aircore holes were completed following up anomalous gold identified by historical Newmont drilling.
All holes were drilled vertically on a broad grid spacing of 50m x 100m. The aim of the program was to drill to blade refusal, through the transported regolith and into the underlying bedrock.
Fourteen holes intersected anomalous gold (+100 ppb Au) beneath transported overburden in weathered bedrock, with the program identifying a significant bedrock gold anomaly covering ~600 metres in strike that remains open to the north and south and potentially several hundred metres in width.
First pass drill results included:
- PJAC0552: 2m @ 9.98g/t gold from 72m
- PJAC0554: 2m @ 8.47g/t gold from 93m
- PJAC0524: 5m @ 1.12g/t gold from 70m
At the time, Renaissance reported it was extremely encouraged by the initial results and was planning a follow up drilling program that would include step out and further infill aircore drilling and some deeper holes.
However, there was limited deeper follow-up RC and DD drilling due to Renaissance’s refocus on high-grade gold exploration in Cambodia. Of note, scissor diamond holes below aircore hole NEWPJAC00465 (4m @ 1.1 g/t Au from 94m) failed to show any primary gold mineralisation.
There are several other aircore anomalies that have not had follow up drilling with deeper RC, including 1m @ 30.1 g/t Au in NEWPJAC0229 from 90m.
Rebecca West
The Rebecca West tenure lies between the Pinjin Mining Centre and Ramelius’s Rebecca Gold Project. E28/3135 is located only 1.5 km west of the Rebecca Project tenure, and only 9 km west of the proposed Rebecca gold processing plant site.
The tenure is peripheral to (but does not include) an internal granite within the Laverton Tectonic Zone. Though superficially similar to the Wallaby deposit (northern Laverton Tectonic Zone) in terms of geometry, much more work is required before it can be determined whether any such target exists on the tenure.
Historic exploration on the tenure has been very limited, with only a single line of shallow aircore holes of any note. Preliminary targeting by KalGold has identified a number of structural targets that will require further examination and ranking before exploration can commence.
Jungle Dam prospect
The Jungle Dam prospect is a gold-in-granite prospect located on E31/1119 that was last explored during the 1990s. Anomalism is associated with a rupture within the internal Jungle Dam Granite. That granite has intruded into the supracrustal sequence that has been strongly deformed by the Celia and the Laverton Tectonic Zones. Work is ongoing to identify and digitise all historic datasets.
Additional gold plays are also apparent around the margins of the Jungle Dam Granite and elsewhere in the shear zones that wrap around it.
Though only gold has been explored and assayed historically, the area may also be prospective for lithium.