Hillgrove Resources has uncovered a new high-grade mineralised zone between its existing Kavanagh and Nugent mining areas.
The newly-named “Saddle” zone is easily accessible within the Kanmantoo mine, giving Hillgrove access to additional inventory with minimal new development or infrastructure required.
The new zone was discovered during extensional drilling at the Nugent site. That campaign revealed multiple strong intersections, with sample grades including 14m at 2.67 per cent copper and 0.36 grams per tonne (g/t) gold from 136m downhole, and 10.5m at 1.01 per cent copper and 0.03g/t gold from 170.5m downhole.
Resource definition drilling for both Nugent and Kavanagh has also returned positive results, including 4m at 1.03 per cent copper and 2.32g/t gold from 348m downhole at Nugent and 15.1m at 2.52 per cent copper and 0.09g/t gold from 101.9m downhole.
Hillgrove chief executive officer and managing director Bob Fulker said the early analysis suggested this was part of a larger mineralised system stretching across all three areas.
“The newly-identified Saddle zone is especially promising,” he said. “It lies between our Kavanagh and Nugent mining areas, right in the middle of our operations, but has never been drilled before. Early results show strong copper grades, good widths, and some encouraging gold grades.
“Several high-grade intersections at depth suggest this is not just a single good result but part of a larger mineralised system.
“Our geology team is already preparing follow-up drilling to define its size, shape, and continuity, so we can plan the best way to include it in future operations.”
Want to connect with the mining industry? Register to attend AIMEX and WA Mining Conference.
