Dart Mining (ASX: DTM) has embarked upon a nine-month diamond drilling marathon at its recently acquired Triumph gold project near Gladstone, Queensland.
The extensive 7000m program will look to replicate previous stellar hits at the project that include 10m at 26.9 g/t gold from 51m and 6m at 13.1 g/t gold from 96m. The initial focus will be on extending the current 2.03 gram per tonne 118,000-ounce gold resource.
Drilling will target multiple existing prospects within Triumph, including Constitution, Big Hans, Super Hans and Bald Hill East, before turning to the resource growth prospects of Brigham Young and the historically productive Advance mine area.
The initial phase of drilling will be centred on the 56,000-ounce Constitution deposit where the previous stellar 10m and 6m high-grade hits occurred. Constitution has up to nine interpreted lodes spanning 700m of strike length where management suggests the gold mineralisation remains open in all directions.
Dart says it will deploy infill and extensional diamond drilling to enhance the structural understanding of the high-grade “shoots” at Constitution, where it is hoping to replicate successful intercepts and report at least visual results as soon as late December.
Following work at Constitution, the drilling will shift to the growth prospect of Bald Hill East, targeting extensions to the current 18,000-ounce resource. Only 13 holes down to an average of just 31m have been drilled at the prospect, with the deposit appearing open along strike and with multiple deeper exploration targets virtually untouched.
The commencement of our first drilling program since acquiring the Triumph Gold Project marks a significant step for the company. It is the first exploration project work undertaken by Dart outside of Victoria. Triumph has a significant JORC resource of 118,000oz Gold and is advanced in terms of exploration work completed. Initial drilling will focus on resource expansion and upgrade, with more exploratory drilling across the lease area as the drill program develops.
Dart Mining Chairman James Chirnside
Dart recently snapped up the Queensland project for the favourable price of just $2 million from ASX-listed explorer Sunshine Metals. The main rationale behind the project purchase and ensuing surrounding land-grab is management’s belief that Triumph holds the next intrusion-related gold system (IRGS) akin to the privately-owned Ravenswood deposit nearby that contains more than 5 million ounces of gold.
The high-grade gold mineralisation across the Triumph project has only ever been historically exploited in one area at the Advance Mine. The old mine will also see deeper exploration, with Dart aiming to uncover untapped potential below its historic shafts.
Significant previous intercepts at Advance include a 3m hit grading a substantial 24.9g/t gold and another 1m hit boasting 45.5g/t gold, hinting at the high-grade opportunities that could lie beneath.
Beyond the key resource areas, Dart geologists are also eyeing the broader potential of Triumph’s unexplored bulk tonnage targets. New predictive geochemical models indicate the presence of large-scale mineralisation sources that are yet to be tested by any serious modern exploration.
Leveraging its low-cost drilling capabilities, Dart intends to test the conceptual targets in the later phases of the program as it continues well into 2025.
Triumph offers some low-hanging near-term resource expansion potential for Dart, with a good 3700m of drilling from previous owner Sunshine not included in the 118,000-ounce resource.
Intrusive related gold deposits whilst rarer, can result in multi-million-ounce discoveries as was the case with De-Grey Mining’s Hemi discovery that ultimately led to a circa 12.7m ounce discovery and a whole lot of blue sky for De-Grey.
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