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GREATER Bendigo Gold Mines has discovered what it believes could be up to 300,000 ounces of low-grade surface gold deposits near Inglewood.
Through historical research the company has put together a new mineral model, which managing director John Cahill said had changed the companys understanding of potential mineralisation in the area.

Traditional exploration has focused on high-grade quartz reefs but now we recognise that those are parts of the bigger reef systems, he said.

Suddenly were seeing much broader exploration potential.

Mr Cahill said investigations into the new discoveries were still in the early stages. At the moment theyre just shallow mineralisations and weve estimated two million tonne sacross five sites, he said.

Theyre all within the Inglewood goldfield, within five kilometres of our plant.

It will be part of our project area and we have both mining and exploration licences for those.

The mineralisation model has shown a number of deposits totalling more than two million tonnes of resources.

Gold grades range between two and five grams per tonne, with a range of between 160,000 and 300,000 ounces of gold in near-surface deposits.

Drilling on the site could begin as early as the end of the year.

Theres been approval of some (drilling licences) already and once the weather stabilises a bit more we can look at that further, he said.

Drilling will build up momentum over the next 12 months. We will refine our program as we go.

Discovery of the surface gold follows geological mapping and historical Goldquest data of the area.

GBGM said gold prices were as low as $300 per ounce when the Goldquest program was completed, leading low-grade mineralised deposits to be considered not-economical.