Victorian goldfields stage resurgence as explorers flock on Fosterville nearology
ASX-listed gold companies in western Victoria
So, who are some of the other listed gold players in the area seeking to emulate Kirkland Lake’s success? Chalice Gold Mines (ASX: CHN)
Chalice Gold is aiming to address the decline in tier one discoveries worldwide. The company is a dominant player in the largely underexplored Bendigo zone of Victoria, boasting a 4,500 square kilometre land holding near Fosterville and Bendigo.
The company’s Pyramid Hill gold project is located less than 30km north-east of Fosterville, with Chalice Gold receiving encouraging early anomalous gold results from recent exploration.
Chalice Gold managing director Alex Dorsch said that excitement was continuing to build in Victoria and at its Pyramid Hill project.
“Intersecting highly anomalous gold and pathfinder mineralisation in the very first phase of our drilling is an exciting development, and we are looking forward to assay results for the next two-thirds of the initial drilling programme,” he remarked in January. Petratherm (ASX: PTR)
Petratherm has historically operated as a geothermal and oil and gas company with tenement interests in Spain, South Australia and Tasmania. After re-listing on the ASX in 2018, the company is now actively involved in mineral exploration across Australia, having recently set its sights on ground close to the operating Fosterville and Costerfield gold mines after applying for an exploration licence.
Petratherm highlighted the fact the area contained several historic gold and other mineral prospects in areas of outcrop.
“Younger cover sediment however masks much of the prospective host rock and these regions have only been very lightly explored,” the company said earlier this month.
Petratherm is currently reviewing previous exploration results and processing geological and geophysical data ahead of commencing field work once the tenement is granted. Nagambie Resources (ASX: NAG)
As a serious gold explorer, Nagambie Resources has ambitions of discovering and developing shallow, open-pit and heap leachable gold deposits.
It controls a range of tenements in historic Victorian goldfields at Nagambie, Clonbinane, Redcastle and Rushworth.
Currently, exploration for Fosterville-style, high-grade sulphide-gold underground deposits is being methodically carried out using geophysical targeting techniques and oriented diamond drilling.
Last year, company identified numerous sulphide targets at its Nagambie asset, located just 60km east of Fosterville. The company is continuing to advance its exploration activities into 2019, with Nagambie Resources labelling 2019 a “big year” Catalyst Metals (ASX: CYL)
Catalyst Metals has been actively exploring in Victoria since 2015, predominately focusing on the Four Eagles joint venture gold project in regional Victoria. Catalyst holds a 50% stake in the project with Gold Exploration Victoria, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Gina Rinehart’s Hancock Prospecting.
All the company’s tenements are situated along the 100km-long Whitelaw Fault which is considered important in the genesis of gold deposits that have formed adjacent to the structure.
Gravity data suggests this large fault structure controlled the formation of the Bendigo gold deposits, as well as gold mineralisation at Four Eagles.
Earlier this week, the company recorded the highest-ever assay result at the project within the Boyd’s Dam zone, intercepting 1,380g/t over a 1m interval during drilling. Navarre Minerals (ASX: NML)
Navarre Minerals is another explorer heavily invested in Victoria. It owns the Tandarra, Stawell Corridor and St Arnaud gold project in western Victoria in addition to a cooper asset.
Recent aircore drilling undertaken at its St Arnaud gold project in Victoria has identified a zone of mineralisation with similar structural characteristics to the Fosterville underground mine located 130km to the east.
The best gold result came from the South Reef, returning 6m at 2.5g/t gold from 80m, including 1m at 5.4g/t gold within a broader interval of 25m at 0.9g/t gold starting from 63m.
Navarre said drilling in the area had delivered compelling new exploration targets, which it will assess in coming months. Stavely Minerals (ASX: SVY)
Junior explorer Stavely Minerals is focused on uncovering large porphyry copper and gold mineralisation at it is Thursday’s Gossan project in Western Victoria.
While company has been chasing world-class copper-gold grades at its flagship asset for some years, the company only recently encountered some of the thickest and highest-grade intervals at the project, retrieving an impressive intercept of 952m at 0.23% copper.
Further upside potential remains at the project considering the company hasn’t yet delved into the target porphyry.
“It is important to note we are not yet into the target porphyry, but these results do represent a very significant step forward in that these structurally-controlled copper lodes are recognised as potentially proximal to a porphyry source similar to Magma and Resolution,” the company said this week.
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