Westar Resources has obtained “outstanding” gold and silver results in a new review of the potential of the historic Mindoolah Mining Centre (MMC) within its Mindoolah project area in Western Australia’s Murchison district.
Assays of up to 40.7 grams per tonne gold and 214g/t silver were returned from 14 grab samples of mined stockpiles located at the MMC.
Three samples from quartz veins in modern-day open pits also returned 1.7g/t gold and 16.1g/t silver rock chip assays.
“We are very encouraged by these excellent initial results and, coupled with numerous yet-to-be-tested historic workings and open pits, highlight the potential at the MMC,” executive director Lindsay Franker said.
“We look forward to systematically evaluating the stockpiles and open pits, with immediate focus on determining the potential for an open pit cutback and possibly toll treating ore at nearby processing plants.”
Mindoolah acquisition
Westar completed negotiations to enter into an option agreement over the Mindoolah project in November 2022.
The surrounding district is reported to have produced significant gold from both hard-rock (open cut and underground) and eluvial deposits.
Historical production of 161 kilograms of gold is recorded at Mindoolah from 7,621 tonnes of ore being treated at an average grade of 21.18 g/t gold.
Recent explorers including Battle Mountain, Placer Exploration and Podium Minerals (ASX: POD) had identified significant anomalous gold zones through soil geochemistry.
However, limited follow-up drilling has been completed and Westar considers there is significant exploration potential in these less explored and under-covered areas.
First-pass assessment
In late March, Westar completed a first-pass field assessment of the potential gold-rich quartz veins reported to have been mined from numerous old workings at Mindoolah dating back to the early 1900s and 1940s.
In the 1980s, a series of shallow open pits were mined to target quartz veins hosting high-grade gold.
It is believed the low gold price at the time resulted in the premature discontinuation of open pit mining at Mindoolah.
Westar believes the current gold price means that economic mineralisation may exist beginning at the existing pit floor level, allowing for a simple pit cutback.
There are also over 200 individual stockpiles located at surface near some of the open pits, each representing one dump truck load.
Sampling program
Westar is now planning to undertake a systematic and representative sampling program targeting the 200+ MMC stockpiles, including first-pass tonnage estimation and initial metallurgical test work.
Westar obtained encouraging gold results from one quartz vein during the recent visit, with only selected veins sampled in the two main open pits.
A number of smaller open pits and numerous old high-grade gold workings remain untested.
A detailed sampling and mapping program will commence once the historical data compilation is complete, including in-pit mapping to help improve understanding of controls on mineralisation.
This will assist drill program planning including potentially undertaking open pit cutback and continue mining the quartz-hosted gold mineralisation along strike and at depth.
Westar is also considering combining the potentially gold-bearing stockpiles for toll treating.
