Drilling at Spectrum Metals’ Penny North prospect returned 8m at 23.3g/t gold and 6.9g/t silver. Gold explorer Spectrum Metals (ASX: SPX) has discovered a high-grade zone of mineralisation at its wholly-owned Penny West gold project in central Western Australia.
The discovery, now called Penny North, is located approximately 150m north of the historic high-grade Penny West open pit, previously mined in the early 1990s for 121,000 tonnes at 21.8 grams per tonne gold.
Spectrum’s drill program was designed to follow up an isolated earlier result of 1m at 6.47g/t gold from 92m located north of the historic pit.
Drilling recorded a best intersection of 8m at 23g/t gold and 6.9g/t silver at Penny North, within an overall intersection of 14m at 14.4g/t gold and 4.11 g/t silver from 124m.
Spectrum said the high-grade portion of the intersection had the same characteristics as mineralisation seen in the historic Penny West lode mined within the open pit to the south, inferring it is it part of the “same mineralising event”.
High degree of confidence
“This intersection has exceeded our highest expectations at this location in terms of tenor and width,” Spectrum managing director Paul Adams said.
“The mineralisation style and grade are essentially the same as was mined previously [which] gives us a high degree of confidence that this new zone is contemporaneous with the original high-grade mineralisation which made Penny West such a famous name in WA’s mining history.”
Mr Adams said the company would expand its drill program to gain more information from the Penny North discovery, and has planned two new holes down dip and to the north of the intersection to triangulate the orientation of the mineralised structure.
The information will be used to design a more comprehensive drilling program to expand the mineralisation in all directions, with a view to defining a mineral resource estimate at the project.
Drill program
Spectrum kicked off its maiden reverse circulation drill program at Penny West last month, just eight weeks after acquiring the mine from Patina Resources Pty Ltd and Plateaux Resources Pty Ltd.
The company will aim to test the down dip and down plunge extents of high‐grade mineralisation already identified below the historic open pit mine, over 24 holes for a total 4,500m.
The program will feature two additional targets including a potential off‐set position of the Penny West lode to the north of the open pit and a projected down plunge mineralisation at the Magenta prospect 2km to the north, highlighted by recent auger geochemistry work.
During its heyday, the Penny West mine was one of the highest-grade gold generators in WA, with reported production between 1991 and 1992 of 121,000t at 21.8g/t gold for 85,000 ounces to an 82m depth.
At mid-afternoon, shares in Spectrum were trading 75% higher at $0.007.
