The release of Barton Gold’s September quarterly report has further highlighted the company’s success in accelerating development of its quality South Australian mining assets.
During the reporting period the company undertook a productive seismic campaign and commenced drilling activities at its Tunkillia gold project, kicked off a new exploration program at its Tarcoola gold project, recovered millions in gold from a clean-out of its Central Gawler Mill, listed on the US OTCQB market and completed an oversubscribed capital raising.
“Barton has quickly followed up the many successes of fiscal year 2023 with multiple work programs targeting additional near-term mineral resources growth and the discovery of new gold zones at Tarcoola and Tunkillia,” managing director Alex Scanlon told shareholders.
“In parallel with ongoing large-scale drilling, we also remain focused on our asset monetisation initiatives. These have generated significant cash to support exploration while protecting our shareholders from excess dilution.”
“We anticipate several exploration and corporate updates over the coming months, with a large number of assays starting soon given the scale of ongoing drilling.”
Gold exploration accelerates
The exploration highlight of the quarter was the new gold exploration activities at the Tarcoola and Tunkillia projects.
At Tarcoola, Barton wrapped up a regional seismic program conducted to identify potential repeats of the high-grade Perseverance mine’s mineralisation in preparation for RC and DD drill testing during early 2024.
It also completed 3 diamond drilling holes for a total of approximately 600 metres on the Perseverance mine’s southern extension to assist geological interpretation and modelling in support of a potential mineral resources upgrade.
At Tunkillia, the company kicked off a large, ongoing drilling campaign where the major focus was the search for extensions of the recently upgraded 1.15 million ounces 223 deposit, and conversion of gold zones to new JORC resources.
Planned drilling was also expanded to add a further approximately 3,000m of RC drilling to the southern extensions of the 223 deposit and to test a regional target along strike on the western margin of the shear zone.
The company has successfully completed approximately 9,900m RC drilling and 700m of drilling to date at the project.
Cleaning has never been so profitable
Barton’s ongoing cleanout of the historic Central Gawler Mill has continued to provide a golden bonus.
During the quarter the company recovered two further parcels of gold bearing concentrates, with total saleable gold concentrates on hand now around 11 dry tonnes grading at approximately 3,880 grams per tonne gold, for a contained metal value of around $4.25 million.
The company has also made good progress on the physical side of the cleanout and preservation program which is being undertaken to assist scope and cost estimates for recommissioning of the critical mill facility.
During these works the gravity circuit was dissembled, stripped and cleaned, with an estimated 10 plus tonnes of gold bearing materials recovered.
Stockpile reviews underway
Elsewhere, the company has uncovered further golden wealth in studies of other historical stockpiles of mined materials located adjacent to the Central Gawler Mill and the Perseverance mine for processing and recovery opportunities.
The company believes the potential to process some of these materials may provide additional opportunities to generate non-dilutive working capital to fund regional technical programs, or to supplement potential Stage 1 mill feed.
Barton also plans to review the historical tailings storage facility adjacent to the Central Gawler Mill for potential selective reprocessing opportunities to recover gold or other minerals of economic value.
Cashed up for further growth
The company ended the quarter with approximately $9.3 million in cash, plus a further $4.5m in interest bearing deposits.
Some of that cash was obtained in Barton’s placement which raised $3.5 million and an oversubscribed share purchase plan to raise a total of $1,233,000.
The company’s shares can now be traded via the OTCQB market and the Frankfurt stock exchange.
Barton’s secondary trading listing on the US OTCQB market was established with the ticker code BGDFF.
Barton also gained another secondary listing on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange with the ticker code BGD3.
Cross-listing to the OTCQB and Frankfurt exchanges offers several advantages for US-based and European investors and opens up new financing options for Barton.
