Novo Resources set to start aircore drilling at Balla Balla Gold Project

Wed Mar 19 2025

Novo Resources Corp. is preparing to launch an aircore drilling program to test priority targets at the Balla Balla Gold Project in late March, subject to weather conditions. The campaign will focus on high-priority targets within structurally complex zones and splay faults near the Sholl Shear Zone, a significant crustal-scale structure extending over 200 kilometres in the northern Pilbara region.

Geological assessments have identified folded and offset mafic and ultramafic stratigraphy within these complex zones, highlighting their potential for gold mineralisation. Several key prospects, including Ramquarry, Cockerell, Babbage, and Beaufort, have been selected for drill testing.

Priority targets identified

Drill targeting for the current program is primarily guided by geophysical interpretation and historical drilling data due to surface cover across the prospect areas. The program will focus on multiple prospects, including:

1. Ramquarry – testing a structurally complex zone with interpreted fault splays from the Sholl Shear Zone and the contact of the Sherlock Intrusion. The northeast aircore (AC) lines will also assess an isolated, fault-bound wedge of Mallina sediments, which appear to host mafic to ultramafic intrusions. Additionally, a broad transect of the Sholl Shear Zone at its contact with the Mallina Formation and Portree Suite granite will be examined.
2. Beaufort – targeting a rotated block of the interpreted Sherlock Intrusion adjacent to the Sholl Shear Zone.
3. Babbage – assessing folded magnetic and non-magnetic units, with a focus on rheology contrast and space creation in fold hinges.
4. Cockerell – investigating significant structural complexity, including folded units and cross-cutting second-order structures that splay from the Loudens Fault. The program will also evaluate competency contrasts along the trend from Babbage.

Initial AC drilling will follow nominal 640-metre line spacing, with hole centres set at 50-metre intervals. Drill lines will be oriented at 140 degrees (drill azimuth) to optimally test northeast-southwest striking target structures and the broader stratigraphic trend. Holes will be drilled to blade refusal (the AC rig’s maximum capacity) to obtain bedrock geological data, with a core sample collected at the end of each hole for analysis.

About Balla Balla

Novo Resources is advancing early-stage exploration at its Balla Balla project, located along the Sholl Shear Zone in the Pilbara. In November 2024, the company finalised an Aboriginal Heritage Protection Agreement with the Kariyarra Aboriginal Corporation (KAC), leading to the grant of exploration licence E47/4703. A site avoidance heritage survey was completed with KAC, and the Department of Energy, Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety (DEMIRS) approved a Program of Work in late 2024, enabling an initial aircore (AC) drilling program.

Novo has identified multiple exploration targets along a 10-kilometre mineralised corridor featuring key faults and fertile structures. The maiden AC drilling program is scheduled to begin in late March 2025. Historical drilling in the area has shown cover sequences reaching up to 25 metres in depth. The AC drilling aims to penetrate this cover and obtain basement rock samples for geological and geochemical analysis.

The Sholl Shear Zone is a major structure extending over 200 km in the Pilbara, influencing mineralisation within the Mallina Basin. Regional fault architecture suggests the Loudens Fault intersects key mineralised structures, including the Mallina Fault and Wohler Shear. De Grey Mining's 12.7 Moz Hemi gold deposit in the Mallina Basin highlights the area's high prospectivity. Structural complexity near the Loudens Fault and Sholl Shear Zone may focus mineralised fluids, supporting Novo’s exploration strategy.

Advancing exploration in NSW

In addition to Balla Balla, Novo has recently completed mapping and sampling programs at the Tibooburra and John Bull Gold Projects in New South Wales, further advancing its exploration portfolio.

Assay results for both NSW projects are now being received and, alongside geological mapping and modelling, will inform the final drill program design.

RC drilling is scheduled for the second quarter of 2025, likely starting at the Clone prospect in Tibooburra following the completion of the Balla Balla aircore (AC) drill program.

Source: https://www.proactiveinvestors.com