Kula Gold (ASX: KGD) is planning a December scout drilling program at its Mustang gold project near Donnybrook in WA to probe the source of anomalous geochemistry extending over 0.8km and rock sample results to 3.5g/t gold.
The company proposes two possible models to test for the source of gold, both of which it intends to probe by reverse-circulation (RC) drilling which will be co-funded up to $180,000 under the WA government’s exploration incentive scheme (EIS).
The proposal follows encouraging results from Kula’s recent exploration which employed ultra-fine soil sampling and rock-chip geochemistry, in conjunction with field mapping and geophysical interpretation.
Kula has built two models for the possible primary sources of the gold anomalism at Mustang. To do so, the company used a combination of mapping, geochemistry and geophysical data, combined with structural information relating to the evolution of WA’s giant Darling Fault and nearby evidence of historic volcanic activity.
The models consider a possible epithermal origin - similar to the nearby Donnybrook gold mine - or a hydrothermal model, similar to that which hosts the massive Boddington gold mine further north.
The historic Camilleri gold mine at Donnybrook reported 236 ounces of gold production from the mine from 51 tons at an impressive grade of 130g/t. The old mine sits just 1.5km south of the south-western rural town of Donnybrook and 27km north along the strike of the Darling Fault from Kula’s Mustang prospect.
The region more generally has been blessed with mega-gold deposits, such as Newmont’s massive Boddington gold mine about 110km north-east of Mustang which has an annual gold production of 703,000 ounces.
Both of Kula’s contemplated geological models centre around the possibility of “subduction” along the Darling Fault which would provide the geological conditions required to explain the links between volcanism, hydrothermal activity and gold mineralisation along or near the surface trace of the 1200km-long fault.
Management believes that the proposed RC program will clarify the distinction between the two models.
This prospect has progressed from a rock chip to a fully peer reviewed high order 0.8km gold prospect that warrants RC drilling. This is Kula’s first successful EIS application and was fully developed by the in-house technical team. The model is for either an epithermal model similar to the Donnybrook Gold Mine or a hydrothermal model similar to the Boddington Gold Mine. RC drilling will test both. The coincident magnetic signature and the volcanic vent near these gold assays provides a geologically active period in the Yilgarn Craton and the subduction of the Darling Fault.
Kula’s Managing Director Ric Dawson
The soil geochemical anomaly at Mustang extends over a north-south distance of 800m and peaks at 52.8ppb gold.
Kula says the apparent gold prospectivity at Mustang has also been elevated by a 3.5g/t gold assay result from a sample of vuggy quartz which led to additional soil and rock-chip sampling and mapping recently, with some current ultra-fine soil sample results still pending.
The company plans to launch its potentially ground-breaking reconnaissance drilling at Mustang on the 1st of December with the rotary truth diviner set to provide the all-important answer to the question, “which of the two models is correct?”
The program has the potential to rewrite a significant chunk of the geological history of the Yilgarn craton and/or the south-western margin of the state.
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