Marmota has cranked up a maiden 20,000-metre reverse circulation drill program to chase a big strike extension along its Greenewood-Mainwood gold system in its South Australian Gawler Craton project area.
The company has already begun drilling the estimated 220-hole program, which has the potential to significantly extend known gold mineralisation along what could be a continuous 2km-long gold mineralised strike between the two prospect areas.
Marmota appears to have joined the dots between its remarkable, still-evolving high-grade gold mineralisation at Greenewood and a scattering of historic one-metre gold assays at its Mainwood prospect, 2km to the south-west.
The old Mainwood hits, sit within a broad zone of elevated gold in the range of 5 to 20 parts per billion defined from calcrete sampling that extends northeast along the 2km-long strike, directly towards Greenwood.
Marmota has concluded that potentially economic gold mineralisation stands a good chance of being proven along that entire trend by drilling along strike between the two target zones.
It’s not hard to see why Marmota is keen to keep probing the ground. With its thick intersections, bonanza-grade internal spikes and strong continuity along strike, Greenewood has been throwing up some of the best gold hits seen in the Gawler Craton since the 1995 Challenger gold discovery, only 30km southwest of Greenewood.
In late February, the company rolled out a second batch of standout assays from its maiden Greenewood drilling, highlighting a near-continuous, high-grade system that remains open in all directions.
Among the better numbers were 44 metres assaying 2.3 grams per tonne (g/t) gold from 16m downhole, including 4m at 16g/t gold.
A second hole pulled up 36m grading 3g/t gold from 64m, featuring 4m at 18g/t gold whilst a third lit up 4m running at a whopping 24g/t gold within a broader stretch of 32m at 3.2g/t gold from 56m.
The program serves two primary roles: (1) to continue the growth of the main Greenewood zone, which has been yielding spectacular results and remains open in all directions; (2) to vigorously attack the southern zone (Mainwood) with our maiden drilling program there.
Now the time has come to see if Mainwood can deliver a repeat performance in its maiden drilling program, which also marks the first time the area has seen a drill rig since 2018.
Historical reverse circulation (RC) drilling at Mainwood totalled only 3700m across 53 holes which averaged roughly 70m deep, suggesting there’s still plenty of room for modern, systematic drilling to prove up something new.
Greenewood and Mainwood sit 35 kilometres northwest of Marmota’s flagship Aurora Tank gold deposit and 30 kilometres northeast of the historic Challenger gold mine, which produced more than a million ounces of gold in its heyday.
The two prospects form part of the Marmota’s Golden Moon joint venture, in which Marmota holds a 90 per cent interest through its wholly owned subsidiary, Half Moon Pty Ltd.
The Mainwood zone was originally picked up using regional calcrete sampling. This old-school technique also gave rise to the Challenger discovery and other gold deposits across the company’s broader Gawler Craton project.
Intriguingly, though, Marmota says Greenewood itself lacks a surface calcrete expression, highlighting the potential for other gold discoveries in areas where traditional calcrete sampling might not have been successful.
Whilst 70 per cent of the planned holes are aimed squarely at the Mainwood extension along the northeast strike towards Greenewood, the remaining 30 per cent have been allocated to Greenewood. These holes will be drilled specifically to tighten up coverage, probe for new extensions and fill gaps in the current drilling.
With a two-kilometre-long potentially high-grade gold trend in its crosshairs and a host of genuinely hefty, high-grade Greenewood intercepts already on the board, Mainwood could easily shape up as the next big story for Marmota.
The logic of exploring this southwest trend from Greenewood towards Mainwood is sound and well-founded. If drilling confirms good gold prospectivity between the two zones, the obvious next question to ask will be “How far does this trend extend northeast of Greenewood and southwest of Mainwood?”
If drilling starts delivering gold hits along the trend between the two zones, punters can expect plenty of lively news flow as drilling continues over the next two months.
Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact: matt.birney@wanews.com.au
