Spartan Resources has recorded its “deepest intercept to date” at its newly discovered Pepper prospect within the Dalgaranga gold project in Western Australia.
Spartan announced the Pepper discovery in April, where it was described as “a new high-grade gold lode” that sits about 90 metres south of the Never Never gold deposit.
The Pepper discovery intercept, 17.52m at 15.86 grams per tonne (g/t) of gold including 9.22m at 27.89g/t of gold, comprises typical Never Never-style mineralisation with similar grades and mineralogical characteristics.
Now, Pepper has recorded an intercept of 25.24m at 16.66g/t, including 5.21m at 18.74g/t, 4.65m at 52.46g/t and 5.44m at 12.39g/t gold in three separate high grade sub-intervals within the overall high-grade drill intercept.
Spartan said the new intercept confirms that high-grade gold mineralisation extends more than 115 metres down-plunge.
“Just weeks after its discovery in April 2024, Pepper is already emerging as a significant new high-grade ore system immediately adjacent to our flagship deposit, the 0.95Moz Never Never gold deposit, discovered in 2022,” Spartan managing director and chief executive officer Simon Lawson said.
“This latest drill intercept in DGRC1431-DT-W1 of 25.24m at 16.66g/t gold is the best and also the deepest Pepper drill intercept to date and, at 420.5 gram x metres, is the fourth best intercept ever recorded at the Dalgaranga gold project, Never Never included.”
A maiden mineral resource estimate for the Pepper prospect is expected to be completed as part of the scheduled mid-year resource update for Dalgaranga.
Spartan will also continue drilling throughout the remainder of 2024, with a primary focus on growing Never Never’s underground resource.
“Owning high-grade resources close to relatively new processing infrastructure is a great formula and the foundation behind many highly successful and resilient producers, past and present,” Lawson said.
“What differentiates our opportunity – the Spartan story – is that we are generating excitement, momentum and value by drilling and actively growing our high-grade gold resources through continuous discovery, right in front of our existing infrastructure.”
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