Carnavale Resources (ASX:CAV) reports it has received ‘excellent’ results from a third aircore drilling program confirming further ‘high-grade’ gold at the Ora Banda South Project, located in Western Australia.
The company completed a 105-hole AC drilling program for 8,885m following up strong gold grades intercepted in previous AC programs, aiming to provide better resolution of the geochemical footprint of concealed gold mineralisation and to find the extents of mineralisation and refine reverse circulation (RC) drill targets.
Results from the drilling confirm a gold bearing system with a strike length of 15km, and significant intercepts recorded by Carnavale include 4m @ 30.20g/t Au from 44m in OBAC413, 7m @ 5.95g/t Au from 80m in OBAC379, 12m @ 0.43g/t Au from 44m in OBAC406, and 4m @ 1.22g/t Au from 88m in OBAC406.
Other results recorded include 11m @ 0.37g/t Au from 72m in OBAC369, 16m @ 0.25g/t Au from 60m in OBAC395 and 12m @ 0.33g/t Au from 40m in OBAC435.
“We are excited about the results from this third aircore program at Ora Banda as they represent the highest grades from the project to date”
Carnavale CEO Humphrey Hale said the drill results represent the ‘highest grade’ results from the Ora Banda South Project to date.
“We are excited about the results from this third aircore program at Ora Banda as they represent the highest grades from the project to date.
“This drilling has provided better definition to the substantial gold anomalies that cover multiple kilometres of strike along the Carnage Shear.
“We are keen to target the fresh rock source with an RC drilling program.”
Carnavale says AC drilling at the project has identified gold anomalies and structural targets under alluvial cover, and the recent AC drilling program confirmed the prospectivity of the Carnage Shear along the 15km long tenement.
The Carnage Shear is anomalous in gold, arsenic, bismuth and lead.
The company identified 3 new gold prospects in earlier AC drilling that contain ‘high-grade’ gold intercepts, and the most recent recent AC program targeted the Carnage and Highlander Prospect.
To date, AC has been drilled on wide spaced lines across the new gold prospects within the tenement package, and the most has confirmed ‘significant’ gold mineralisation in the regolith geochemistry at Carnage and Highlander.
Carnavale say they have gained an improved understanding of the geology structure as well as the depth of weathering within the regolith profile across the tenement package that has refined the targeting process.
At Carnage, the company reports the prospect is dominated by a sequence of sedimentary rocks crosscut by the Carnage Shear, and the area is overlain with a layer of transported material that is up to 40m in places.
The transported cover has prevented any surface sampling such as soils or auger sampling from being effective at detecting concealed gold anomalism in earlier exploration.
Carnavale also reports the Carnage Prospect has a confirmed gold anomaly with a strike length of 2.1km within the sediment package along the Carnage Shear that is open to the northeast, south and southwest, and the company has identified structures from the magnetics that appear to link up the Carnage Prospect with the anomaly at Highlander.
Gold mineralisation has been intersected in both the transported material and the residual saprolite and saprock, and the gold anomalies in the transported material are spatially related to the bedrock mineralisation, which Carnavale reports can help provide an additional vector to further mineralisation.
The ‘high-grade’ mineralisation recorded in OBAC413 reportedly appears to be related to the sediment mafic boundary and is interpreted that a gold bearing structure is present at this interface, and Carnavale believes this provides a good target for future RC drilling.
In section C and D through Carnage, the company reports the ‘high-grade’ in OBAC379 ended in mineralisation, and the intercept is surrounded by ‘strong’ gold anomalism both in the residual saprolite and the transported cover overlying and adjacent to it.
The company also believes this is a strong target for RC drilling.
Carnavale reports the geology of the Highlander Prospect is similar to the Carnage Prospect with sediments intersected by the Carnage Shear and other associated fault structures, and the depth of transported cover is not as extensive as Carnage located 3km northwest.
The Highlander Prospect has a blanket of anomalous gold and arsenic in the soil geochemistry that was the target for Carnavale’s initial broad spaced AC drilling that intersected ‘high-grade’ gold mineralisation.
It reports the third AC program has infilled this anomaly in more detail and has outlined more than 1.1km of strike extent.
Gold mineralisation at Highlander is associated with the same Carnage Shear and similar north-south modifying influences found at Carnage, and the supergene gold anomaly extends over 400m in width and is made up of anomalous gold in the transported horizon directly associated with gold anomalism in the underlying residual saprolite.
Highlander has a strike length of 1.1km which remains open to the northeast and Carnavale believes it could be linked to Carnage along the main shear.
The company intends to drill test the deeper extensions of the regolith anomalies at Carnage and Highlander with RC drilling to 200m.
Carnavale Resources is a Western Australia-based mineral exploration company focused on acquiring and exploring ‘high-quality’ and advanced exploration and development projects prospective for gold, nickel, PGE and strategic minerals associated with the electric vehicle battery sector including other new-age disruptive technologies.
Its portfolio includes an 80% interest in the Kookynie Gold Project near Leonora, an 80% interest in the Ora Banda South Gold Project near Kalgoorlie, and the wholly owned Grey Dam Nickel-Cobalt Project near Kurnalpi.
