High-grade assays give Ausgold a flying start in Katanning drill campaign

And it’s all happening on newly acquired ground that hasn’t seen a drill bit in three years.

The first 11 RC holes for 1,581m from the Central Zone have returned a mix of standout step-out and infill results, including 14m at 6.18g/t gold from 181m, with a 5m stretch running 16.44g/t.

Step-out hits like 10m at 2.27g/t from 150m push mineralisation beyond the existing resource boundary where roughly 90% of the KGP’s 2.44Moz resource is concentrated in the Central Zone.

Closer to surface, the infill drilling is also doing some heavy lifting, with grades coming in consistently higher than modelled, confirming continuity and hinting at potential grade uplift as the resource evolves.

Highlights include 13m at 2.27g/t Au from 60m, 17m at 1.55g/t from 122m and 4m at 6.37g/t from 77m.

Things are moving fast, with 42 holes totalling 5,717m completed and a second RC rig joining the action on site.

The bigger objective of Ausgold’s (ASX:AUC) campaign is twofold – growing the Central Zone resource and firming up the early-stage, high-margin mining areas which will underpin initial development.

AUC executive chairman John Dorward said the first tranche of assay results reinforced the strong growth potential of KGP.

“The recent drilling further validates our resource model, confirming the consistency and continuity of the mineralisation and highlighting the potential to locally improve grades,” he said.

“We look forward to a continued flow of results over the coming months as drilling advances.”

KGP sits within a major mineralised structural corridor, with exploration to date outlining a 15km trend hosting multi-lode gold mineralisation across three key resource zones.

This consists of the Northern Zone (including the Dataline deposit), the Central Zone (including the Jinkas, White Dam and Olympia deposits) and the Southern Zone (including Dingo and Lukin).

The Central Zone contains the Jinkas-White Dam synformal structure – the primary value driver for the project – and continues to demonstrate scale and grade upside opportunities.