Barton kicks off drilling on-site historical Tarcoola gold play

Barton Gold (ASX:BGD) announced on Tuesday its exploration team has kicked off drilling on-site the company’s acreage overlying the historical Tarcoola goldfield.

Describing it as a “high-grade” target, the company is launching into a 7,000m reverse circulation (RC).

Straddling the border of the next-door Tunkillia project – also Barton’s, and boasting a 1.5Moz gold resource – the company’s exploration team is hoping to find high-grade mineralisation to “blend into” Tunkillia.

In the background, Barton has recently kicked off the scoping study process at Tunkillia where the company is hoping to firm up the reality of a bulk open-pit mine.

Meanwhile, at Tarcoola, drillers will sink down into targets through May and June adjacent to the Perseverance mine, where 1,688m of RC core was recently collected. Today’s drilling is different from that resumed at Perseverance.

Also nearby is Barton’s ‘Western Targets’ area of interest which includes four prospects, namely Tolmer, Mulgathing, Dark Hill and Warburton.

Barton chief Alex Scanlon outlined the thesis behind the company’s hopeful combination of both projects into one.

“The neighbouring 1.5 Million ounce Tunkillia Project entering Scoping Studies for a large-scale development, the economic contribution of nearby high-grade blending feed could be substantial,” Scanlon said.

“Additionally, even a modest initial base of mineralisation could potentially support earlier ‘Stage 1’ operations leveraging Barton’s existing Central Gawler Mill.”

The company’s latest raising exercise saw a 300% increase over the original target on the back of strong interest.

BGD opened Monday at 31.5cps.