TNM Drill Down: Red 5’s King of the Hills produces best width x grade value yet 

Our TNM Drill Down features highlights of the top gold assays from Aug. 4-11. Drill holes are ranked by gold grade x width, as identified by our data provider Mining Intelligence. 

The King of the Hills project in Australia tops last week’s ranking with the best width x grade value reported since The Northern Miner’s first weekly Drill Down report was published on July 25 last year. Red 5 (ASX: RED) said on Aug. 8 that hole KOTHGC5567 cut 26 metres grading 168.15 grams gold per tonne from 16 metres depth for a width x grade value of 4,372. Drilling activity at the King of the Hills mine site in Western Australia has helped solidify the mine plan for 2024 and uncovered the possibility of expanding the areas where valuable resources like diamonds are found. The diamond drilling work has increased confidence in operating the mine in 2024, as around 85% of the planned drilling has been completed. Drill results show there’s a chance to prolong the lifespan of the mine by finding more resources underground, especially in the Regal and Eastern Flank sections. King of the Hills has a June 2022 total measured, indicated and inferred resource of 95.3 million tonnes at 1.4 grams gold per tonne for 4.4 million oz. of contained gold. Additionally, the tests done in the latter half of FY23 have revealed high-quality deposits in the extended resource areas and have helped control the quality of ore being extracted from underground. 

In the U.S., AngloGold Ashanti (NYSE: AU) reported the second-best assay result last week with a width x grade value of 932 at the company’s Silicon-Merlin project in Nevada. Hole MER-23-0147-RD cut 285 metres grading 2.27 grams gold per tonne from 284.1 metres depth. The project, in which Orogen Royalties (TSXV: OGN; US-OTC: OGNRF) holds a 1% net smelter return royalty, is said to have an exploration target of 230-250 million tonnes grading 0.8-1 gram gold per tonne for 6-8 million oz. of metal. As of July, the company has completed more than 261 drill holes totalling over 120 km of drilling at Merlin. The Merlin zone remains open to the west, southwest, and north. AngloGold expects to complete a resource delineation drilling program by the end of the current quarter. By year-end, AngloGold plans to release a concept study on the combined Silicon-Merlin project, including an initial resource declaration at Merlin. Drilling continues at Silicon Central and Merlin for resource conversion and expansion.  

Last week’s third-best drill intercept came from Canada, where drilling at New Found Gold’s (TSXV: NFG) Queensway project in Newfoundland, returned 4.7 metres grading 166.79 grams gold per tonne from 250.6 metres depth in hole NFGC-23-1157, for a width x grade value of 784. On Aug. 9, the company announced the results from nine diamond drill holes completed as part of a follow-up program at its new Iceberg discovery near Gander, . Results include 167 grams gold per tonne over 4.7 metres in NFGC-23-1157, intersecting 32 metres down dip of a previously reported 19.6 grams gold over 5.3 metres in NFGC-23-1217. This interval is interpreted to be close to true width and occurs at a vertical depth of 170 metres, demonstrating strong high-grade gold continuity down-dip at depth. Iceberg is 300 metres northeast of Keats Main zone along the Appleton fault zone. The segment is defined over a strike length of 665 metres, with high-grade gold mineralization starting at surface and currently extends to a vertical depth of 170 metres.