HIGHLIGHTS
- Target is an epithermal/placer style deposit of 1 million ounces of gold.
- Early cashflow potential from alluvials and hardrock production is targeted.
- Shallow alluvial JORC compliant resource of 55,000 bcm grading 0.7 g/t gold with potential for further alluvial deposits.
- Dam and plant constructed and in operation.
- Trial mining of a section of the basal grit commenced on 10 July using earthmoving contractors to excavate bulk samples to be treated through a gravity plant established on site.
Rutherfords Table is unusual for the district, in that the surface expression is a palaeoalluvial, an ancient alluvial gold bearing gravel, also commonly known as a “deep lead”, largely covered by a mesa cap of barren sandstone. Previous underground mining, extending 250m horizontally, and with total extent of one hectare of drives and stopes exploited high-grade and commonly coarse free gold in pebbly gravel. The average grades of palaeoalluvial deposits are notoriously difficult to assess due to the uneven distribution of coarse nuggetty gold, however the broadly defined extent and thickness of the gold bearing gravel unit in this case combined with data from varied underground sampling methods lend encouragement that a large resource is possible. The strategy here is to trial mine a small parcel of initially about 30,000 tonnes and simultaneously carry out a series of drilling and sampling tests and detailed geological mapping to compare predicted grade with actual production. This data would then be applied to the exploration and progressive upgrade of production of the larger target buried beneath the mesa.
The main conceptual target is to locate the primary source for this gold. Very fragile gold-bearing sulphide breccia fragments within the gravels suggest that an epithermal breccia source, of similar style to other deposits in the district such as Wirralie, may be buried nearby beneath the barren cap. These sulphide clasts should have a local source not more than a few hundred metres distant.
