The 2,000m reverse circulation program is being conducted 1 kilometre south of the cornerstone 374,000oz Bruno-Lewis deposit to follow up the strong aircore results generated earlier this year.

It is designed to confirm of the presence of a high-grade primary gold system beneath the aircore work which produced significant near surface intersections in 200m spaced lines and provided Kin with greater confidence in the potential of the emerging discovery.

Best results from the previous aircore drilling were 4m at 10.1 grams per tonne gold from 24m; 8m at 3.08g/t gold from 8m; 4m at 1.61g/t gold from 20m; 10m at 3.10g/t gold from 12m; and 16m at 1.04g/t gold from 4m.

Managing director Andrew Munckton said the Pegasus program kicks off a new field season at Cardinia.

“This next phase will test below near-surface high-grade intercepts returned from aircore drilling completed in 2021, [after which the rig] will progress to an extensional program at Cardinia Hill,” he said.

“The target corresponds with the northern and southern edges of the Pegasus gravity low [and these] lows have previously been shown to be a strong indicator of gold mineralisation at several locations within Cardinia.”

Kin is expecting results from the remaining 17 holes of drilling at the Mt Flora prospect within the next week.

The company completed initial reverse circulation drilling at the Eastern Zone late last year, which comprised 25 holes for 3,169m to test to approximately 100m below surface.

Results for the first eight holes included strong initial intersections such as 18m at 1.57g/t gold; 22m at 0.86g/t gold; and 3m at 1.48g/t gold.

These support previous high-grade reverse circulation and diamond highlights of 5.3m at 6.49g/t gold, including 2.6m at 8.84g/t gold from 188.3m; 18m at 1.57g/t gold from 119m, including 4m at 2.23g/t gold from 119m; and 2m at 5.65g/t gold from 135m.

Multi-element assays for bottom-of-hole samples used to characterise the mineralisation, alteration and rock types at Mt Flora have confirmed the gold is associated with anomalous silver, tellurium and tungsten in sulphide-rich quartz carbonate vein structures within mafic rocks.

Mr Munckton said further drilling has been planned to test the north-western and south-western targets at Mt Flora once all initial results have been returned.