Ann: Tunkillia Growth Program Expanded with 3rd Drilling Rig, page-2

Barton Gold (ASX:BGD) has stepped up its aggressive expansion campaign at the Tunkillia gold project in South Australia with the addition of a third drilling rig in the field.

The company now has two RC drilling rigs and one DD drilling rig on site at Tunkillia. A second RC drilling rig is now spinning the bit at the remote gold field where RC and diamond drilling (DD) is targeting further JORC Mineral Resources growth at the 1.15 million ounce deposit.

The arrival of the new Egan Drilling’s track mounted RC rig will help accelerate a significant 7,500 metre program aimed at testing the estimated 38 million tonnes at 0.94 grams per tonne Tunkillia gold resource and surrounding satellite gold zones.

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Testing priority target

Barton’s managing director Alex Scanlon said the new rig’s ability to manoeuvre through sandy conditions will allow it to test a priority regional exploration target southeast of the large 223 deposit.

Located along the western margin of the Yarlbrinda Shear Zone, the target is sited across another structure which intersects the Shear south of the 223 deposit, offsetting it to the northeast.

Geophysical modelling indicates there is potential to host mineralisation similar to that identified in the 223 deposit and its satellite gold zones.

“We are excited to get a third rig on site to test the southeast offset target this year. This has been a high priority since identifying the new gold zones at Areas 223N, 191 and 51,” Mr Scanlon said.

“We are hoping to generate multiple near-term resource updates at Tunkillia, and also to open the next several kilometres of the shear zone for potential repeats of this large-scale open pit mineralisation.”

Active period of drilling

A highly active Barton Gold commenced its new Tunkillia diamond drilling campaign in late September and has made good progress to date.

A major focus of the current program is the testing of satellite exploration opportunities alongside a currently active reverse circulation (RC) resources growth drilling program.

Mr Scanlon said the diamond program will provide important new geological and structural context to support the potential conversion of these targets to a new JORC mineral resource estimate.

The area at 51 target will be assessed for its potential to infill the geological model with higher quality information focused on a central zone of broad (approximately 50m wide) mineralisation which graded over 40 gram-metre and included 17m at 3.2 grams per tonne gold (from 77m) in hole TKB43.

Growing gold footprint

Tunkillia’s total “golden” footprint has already grown significantly under Barton’s ownership, including the discovery of three new satellite gold zones since November 2021.

Located around 70km south/south-east of the Tarcoola project, Tunkillia is sited on an approximately 1,360 square kilometre tenement package.

To date, Barton has identified more than 20km of untested strike at the project and is excited about the potential of a major “kilometres-wide Kalgoorlie style shear zone” it is chasing there.

The company believes Tunkillia hosts multiple advanced ‘line of lode’ targets on the western and eastern demagnetised margins of the Yarlbrinda Shear, located in the vicinity of the 223 deposit.

The 223 deposit was discovered during 1996, and since around the year 2000 the majority of drilling in the area has been focused on infill drilling of that deposit.

Shallow historical drilling has also uncovered the potential for extensive mineralisation and has identified multiple local satellite targets. This historical drilling is now set to be tested with the new program.