Today's reading from the w.e. aust.

From the W.E. Australian today and headed: PILBARA'S GOLD RUSH LOSES SHINE

"The Pilbara gold nugget rush is experiencing another crisis of confidence, with shares across the space taking a battering in the wake of the latest mixed exploration results from sector leader Novo Resources

"Shares in the Mark Creasy-backed, Canadian listed Novo plunged 27.6 per cent on Thursday night after it released the latest exploration update from its Purdy's Reward joint venture near Karratha. The stock is down almost 55 per cent from its peak in October of $C8.83 wiping $C716million ($728 m.) off its market capitalisation.

"The trigger for the latest sell-down was an announcement detailing the progress of drilling and bulk sampling programs at Purdy' Reward, which has reinforced the challenges facing Novo and its Australian counterparts as they try to find a way to test and measure the extent of gold mineralisation in the area.

"Unlike the conventional gold deposits around W.A, the Pilbara gold occurs as nuggets in conglomerate rocks close to the surface. Photos and images of gold nuggets being pulled out of the ground helped spark a frenzy of activity in the Pilbara but the projects are proving tricky to assess with the nuggety nature making it difficult if not impossible to assess through typical drilling techniques.

"The Novo result confirmed that the drilling - which was designed to test the extent of the conglomerate rocks, rather than indicate the gold grade - had returned little more than trace amounts of gold.

"Three bulk samples of conglomerate ranging in size from 304kg to 371kg returned grades of 15.7g, 17.7g and 1.3g of gold per tonne, and Novo said it needed to take substantially bigger bulk samples of several tonnes in order to get a clearer understanding of the mineralisation's true grade.

"Shares in Novo's partner Artemis Resources, which described Novo's update as "very positive", fell 17 per cent (to) 24.5c."

MM