- Great Northern Minerals is expected to begin exploration at its North Queensland gold mines next month
- The Big Rush, Golden Cup and Camel Creek mines will be the areas tested
- The overall program will consist of 2000 metres of reverse circulation and diamond drilling
- The results expected to lead to the estimation of a JORC compliant mineral resource
- Great Northern has ended the day 5.26 per cent in the red with shares trading for 0.9 cents apiece
Great Northern Minerals is expected to begin exploration at its North Queensland gold mines next month.
The traditional owners at Big Rush, Golden Cup and Camel Creek mines have granted permission for the commencement of drilling activities.
At the Big Rush site, preparation is underway and this historic mine will be the first one tested in the current program.
This drilling will consist of approximately 1000 metres and will initially be confined to the Central Pit where drilling by the previous owner expected to estimate a JORC compliant mineral resource.
Assays are expected by mid-December and a resource estimate by the end of January.
In addition to the Central Pit, there are three small pits, two to the south and one to the north, that run along with the Big Rush gold trend. The western lode has been lightly drilled and little is known about its potential.
The Big Rush gold shear zone has had minimal deep drilling and from an exploration standpoint, Big Rush is very early in its development.
The continuous nature of the known mineralisation gives Great Northern plenty of optimism about the future of Big Rush.
Exploration drilling in 2020 will assess the Northern and Southern pits, plus the Western Anomaly, which when combined covers a strike length of approximately 2.5 kilometres.
At the Golden Cup mine confirmation drilling is expected to be confined to several key test holes as well as some diamond drilling to collect detailed geological mapping at metallurgical samples.
However, the structural setting of the high-grade mineralisation is not yet well understood and no systematic metallurgical drilling is yet to be completed.
Previous drilling at Golden Cup is more recent than that at Big Rush and Great Northern expects that an initial JORC compliant mineral resource can be estimated with a minimal amount of drilling.
Only two holes have been drilled deeper than 70 metres and there are strong indications that deeper drilling and drilling along strike may result in the intersection of further high-grade mineralisation.
Once completed the resource model will help direct further drilling at Golden Cup in the 2020 exploration season.
No systematic drilling is planned at the Camel Creek mine this year but Great Northern may drill some orientation holes beneath the workings if the weather holds up.
Camel Creek is the largest of the mines and has continuous workings over four kilometres of strike.
There are sufficient holes to indicate potential at depth but there are no known holes that have been drilling more than 50 metres deep.
This mine will be a major focus for exploration next year as it is the largest target and the least drilled and understood.
Great Northern’s share price is down 5.26 per cent with shares trading for 0.9 cents apiece at market close.