Premier1 Lithium has unveiled solid gold results from the latest drilling at its Yalgoo gold project in Western Australia, delivering high-grade hits while also revealing a compelling geochemical signature pointing to a potentially different style of discovery.
The company says its multielement analysis now hints at a potential volcanogenic massive sulphide (VMS) corridor emerging at its Carlisle and Olive Queen prospects, just 50 kilometres north of ASX-listed 29Metals’ world-class Golden Grove VMS mine.
Premier1 says reverse circulation (RC) drilling intersected gold mineralisation outside the existing 13,000-ounce resource at its Wadgingarra prospect, with solid shallow grades that are primed for follow-up.
Results from Carlisle include a 4-metre hit grading 1.88 grams per tonne (g/t) gold from 44 metres and a thicker 14-metre intersection running 0.84 g/t gold from 42 metres, which included a 3-metre core going 2.82 g/t gold.
While the gold hits are more than welcome, it’s the multi-element geochemistry that has management’s attention. The company says analysis of drill chips identified a strong VMS pathfinder signature, suggesting the mineralisation could be part of a system rich in base metals such as copper and zinc, in addition to precious metals.
VMS deposits are often found in clusters, as seen at Golden Grove, and the company believes a new mineralised corridor may exist in the region’s north, stretching from the Olive Queen prospect, through Cumberland and Carlisle, then opening to the south.
Further evidence of a large mineralising system has come from the nearby Mt Kersey prospect, where drilling has confirmed even more hydrothermal activity. Gold grades were more modest here, with a best result of 8 metres at 0.54 g/t gold from 68 metres. Premier1 says the holes were anomalous in a suite of pathfinder elements.
The early results don’t blow away the competition, but a big, fertile system is precisely what you want to see, as it can often point to higher-grade discoveries lurking close by.
Premier1 executive director Simon Phillips said: “The recent drilling program has highlighted the significant exploration potential across the Yalgoo project, in particular the identification of a VMS association at Carlisle and the nearby Olive Queen Prospects, which opens up a huge opportunity for the Company to expand the Wadgingarra Resource with relatively simple and cost-effective exploration.”
The company’s Yalgoo project covers 266 square kilometres of the tier-1 Yalgoo-Singleton greenstone belt, along strike from 29 Metals’ Golden Grove operations and wedged between major gold producers Ramelius Resources and Capricorn Metals.
Three hundred kilometres away at Premier1’s Abbotts North address, the company has just launched first-ever drilling at its Rochefort gold prospect. The project sits just 35 kilometres north of Meekatharra in the historically rich, although relatively underexplored, Abbotts greenstone belt.
Notably, the Rochefort prospect lies only 20 kilometres along strike to the north of New Murchison Gold’s recently discovered and now producing Crown Prince deposit, which hosts a high-grade resource of 2.2 million tonnes grading 3.9 g/t gold for 279,000 ounces.
With drilling whirring away at Abbotts and a new geological model emerging at Yalgoo, Premier1 is now planning to run electromagnetic and induced polarisation surveys at Yalgoo to zero in on the core conductors of its now interpreted VMS system ahead of pivotal drilling.
It’s often said that the best place to find a new mine is in the shadow of an old one. Premier1 went to Yalgoo looking to build on a known gold resource and has seemingly stumbled upon a geological plot twist that could add a whole new dimension to its project.
While the company continues to expand its gold footprint, the prospect of a potentially gold and base metals-rich VMS system is too good to ignore. If the upcoming geophysics can light up some white-hot drill targets, one drill hole could be all that’s needed.
