Red Rock Resources plc (50.1%) and Power Metal Resources plc (49.9%)’s initial drill results made a promising start for the joint venture’s subsidiary New Ballarat Gold Corporation plc in the Victoria gold fields in Australia.
JOINT VENTURE
Red Rock Australasia Pty Ltd (RRAL), the 100% owned Australian operating subsidiary of New Ballarat, is conducting exploration at the site and drilled three holes at the Mt Bute prospect.
RESULTS
The JV said it had received “significant” results from the first hole drilled (MB22D001) at Mt Bute, one of two targets in recent drilling.
Preliminary X-ray fluorescence (XRF) analysis of selected Mt Bute core intervals returned highly anomalous molybdenum and bismuth results, suggesting the possibility of intrusive related gold (IRG) mineralisation within the Victorian gold fields.
More than 30% of assays between 23.1m to 117.7m returned results greater than 0.1 g/t gold.
These include intervals of 0.4m of 5.13 g/t, 0.5m of 2.5 g/t, 1.8m of 1.43 g/t, and 5.9m of 0.42 g/t gold.
The JV added that additional drilling at the Mt Bute prospect would step out along strike and down dip.
Results from the second and third holes are pending.
Further results from drilling at O’Loughlins prospect were not considered of such significance, added the companies.
PARADIGM
Red Rock chairman Andrew Bell said described the widespread mineralisation with some good grades as a “very good outcome”.
“Intrusion-related gold has been a theme of much discussion in Victoria, and to have confirmed that it played a role in our licence area is a validation of this new paradigm, with implications for exploration across the region.”
Power Metal chief executive Paul Johnson added that the findings at Mt Bute marked a major step to what the JV hoped would be “multiple potential gold discoveries within the ground footprint in the Victoria gold fields”.