Kula launches drill campaign near Australia’s biggest gold mine
Mon Dec 02 2024
Kula Gold has launched a much-anticipated reconnaissance drilling campaign at its Mustang gold project near Donnybrook in WA. The program has been designed to test the company’s dual exploration strategy at high-priority gold anomalies uncovered by ultra-fine soil sampling and rock chip samples at the project grading up to 3.5 grams per tonne gold.
Supported by the WA government’s Exploration Incentive Scheme (EIS), Kula’s drilling program is set to benefit from up to $180,000 in co-funding, demonstrating an air of new confidence in the company’s latest geological modeling.
The Mustang prospect is located 110km southwest of the Australia’s biggest gold mine in Newmont’s Boddington, which has a staggering gold production of 703,000 ounces per year.
Boddington is somewhat of an anomaly in the WA gold landscape. It is a standalone operation of considerable size, tucked away in the state’s southwest. Unlike the many other major red dirt-based gold mining centers across the state, which feature multiple operating mines in close proximity, such as Kalgoorlie, Leonora, Laverton and Meekathara, it is curious that another Boddington has never been discovered.
Kula’s geologists have hatched two new geological models to be tested by the new drill program; an epithermal system akin to the Donnybrook gold mine or a hydrothermal model resembling Boddington itself.
The company says a volcanic vent nearby and the recent gold assays highlighting a prospective 0.8km anomaly provide a geological model for an active period in the Yilgarn Craton and the subduction of the Darling Fault.
The company believes the new program could offer early answers around which of the two proposed geological models—epithermal or hydrothermal—best explains the mineralisation.
The Mustang prospect benefits from its proximity to historically productive sites. Just 10km to the north lies the Cammilleri Mine, which produced 236 ounces of gold at an exceptional grade of 130g/t in its heyday.
Kula’s first EIS-backed drilling effort is set to span 500m, targeting coincident geochemical and magnetic anomalies. The project’s initial findings already suggest an untested gold prospect that could hold significant promise for future exploration.
The company says it plans to expand future drilling efforts, following updates to its models anticipated to evolve as assay results from the first phase of drilling roll in.
Source: https://thewest.com.au