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Spartan Resources Limited (“Spartan” or “Company”) (ASX: SPR) is pleased to advise that it has discovered a new high-grade gold lode immediately south of the 952koz Never Never Gold Deposit at its 100%-owned Dalgaranga Gold Project (“DGP”) in the Murchison region of Western Australia.
Highlights:
“Pepper” Gold Prospect – new discovery
- 17.52m @ 15.86g/t gold from 522.0m, including 9.22m @ 27.89g/t (DGRC1432-DT):
- Intercept located approximately 90.0m south and along-strike of the nearest intercept (<0.5g/t gold) defining the southern extent of the 952koz Never Never Gold Deposit.
- Three additional diamond drill-holes have also intersected various widths of logged mineralisation up-dip of DGRC1432-DT, confirming the discovery (assays pending).
- Further drilling to define this new high-priority target is currently underway.
Figure 1: Long Section of the Never Never Gold Deposit, Four Pillars and West Winds Gold Prospects looking East. New high-grade Pepper Gold Prospect with discovery hole DGRC1432 shown in pink. Note: consistency of gold grades in DGRC1432 (inset) and three additional drill-holes with logged mineralised intercepts above DGRC1432 defining the emerging Pepper Gold Prospect (assays pending).
Please Note: Visual estimates of mineral abundance should never be considered a proxy or substitute for laboratory analyses where concentrations or grades are the factor of principal economic interest. Visual estimates also potentially provide no information regarding impurities or deleterious physical properties relevant to valuations. Assays for DGDH064 are expected in April 2024.
The new lode, named the Pepper Gold Prospect, sits approximately 90 metres south of the previous southernmost intercept at Never Never and all current conceptual underground development designs for future underground drilling and potential extraction of high-grade Never Never gold mineralisation pass by the new high-grade Pepper discovery position.
Importantly, the discovery intercept, 17.52m @ 15.86g/t gold including 9.22m @ 27.89g/t Au, comprises typical Never Never-style mineralisation with similar grades and mineralogical characteristics.
Table 1: Mineralisation Description – DGRC1432 – Pepper Gold Prospect discovery intercept
Table 2: Mineralisation Description – DGDH064 – Visible Gold at 1,050m from Never Never in Fig.1 (previously reported)
Please Note: Visual estimates of mineral abundance should never be considered a proxy or substitute for laboratory analyses where concentrations or grades are the factor of principal economic interest. Visual estimates also potentially provide no information regarding impurities or deleterious physical properties relevant to valuations.
Management Comment
Spartan Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Simon Lawson, said: “The discovery of the new high-grade Pepper Gold Prospect, located directly between Never Never and Four Pillars, is yet another game-changer for the Dalgaranga Gold Project.
“The core from the discovery hole DGRC1432-DT shows the same thick, heavily-altered volcaniclastic host-rock, orientation and mineralisation style as Never Never and the gold grades are consistent across the entire intercept and of an impressive tenor, to this point only seen elsewhere at Never Never.
“Importantly, the Pepper discovery sits along-strike and in the same volcaniclastic sequence as Never Never but appears to be in a separate steeply north-west plunging fold shoot of its own.
“Think of fold shoots as linear folds like those on a corrugated iron roofing sheet. The sheet represents the north-striking steeply west-dipping volcaniclastic rock package at Dalgaranga. East-west shears regularly cross-cut the sheet, creating corrugations or fold shoots. The troughs of the folds host steeply- plunging high-grade gold mineralisation while the ridges between host lower-grade gold mineralisation.
“The high-grade Never Never Gold Deposit sits in one of these large corrugation troughs and the new high-grade Pepper discovery appears to be located in an adjacent fold trough with a ridge of lower grade mineralisation in between.
“We have also drilled a number of follow-up holes up-dip from DGRC1432-DT which have intersected the same style of mineralisation and we look forward to those assays.
“The Pepper Gold Prospect sits immediately adjacent to Never Never in an extremely favourable position given that any future exploration drill drive and/or mining access scenarios will likely come from the Gilbey’s Open Pit as a start point and pass right by Pepper on the way to Never Never.
“The potential to add further high-grade ounces in close proximity to planned future infrastructure through discoveries like this is central to our strategy and investment proposition – and demonstrates clearly why we think there is so much more upside in what is turning out to be a truly remarkable gold system at Dalgaranga!”
Click here for the full ASX Release
This article includes content from Spartan Resources Limited, licensed for the purpose of publishing on Investing News Australia. This article does not constitute financial product advice. It is your responsibility to perform proper due diligence before acting upon any information provided here. Please refer to our full disclaimer here.
SPR:AU
Navigating Uncertainty: How Trump's Tariffs Are Affecting the Gold Market
Read on to learn how tariffs have affected the gold market and price so far.
How have tariffs affected the gold price?
The gold price has been on the rise since the beginning of the year. After briefly touching the US$3,500 per ounce level in May, it has pulled back and was trading just under US$3,400 as of Tuesday (August 26).
Gold price, January 1 to August 26, 2025.
Chart via TradingEconomics.
Although some of its increase is attributable to the points mentioned above, a significant portion is owed to a lack of information surrounding US President Donald Trump’s tariff policies.
Initially there was no clarity on what or who was being tariffed, or when the levies would ultimately be implemented, and investors started to move into gold for greater stability and portfolio diversification.
Uncertainty about whether gold would be tariffed also had an effect, prompting traders in the US to import physical gold; this created a price differential between New York futures and the London spot price.
Concerns dissipated as the Trump administration began to nail down tariffs, but were reignited once again when US Customs and Border Patrol posted a ruling on July 31 indicating that the 39 percent tariffs against imports from Switzerland would include 1 kilogram and 100 ounce gold bars.
The news caused spot gold to spike more than 3 percent, from US$3,290 to US$3,398, and sent December futures to an all-time high of US$3,549. Meanwhile, traders halted imports of Swiss bars.
After several days of turmoil, Trump said the ruling was incorrect, and the bars would not be included in the tariff measures being applied to other Swiss imports; the gold price then retreated.
How would gold tariffs have impacted the market?
Gold functions as both a commodity and an essential part of the world’s financial system.
One kilogram and 100 ounce gold bars are used to back futures trading, and regular shipments of the metal are needed to settle contracts once they come due. A 39 percent tariff on gold from Switzerland would have been particularly disruptive, as Swiss refineries account for approximately 70 percent of the world’s gold.
According to the UN Comtrade database, in 2024, Switzerland exported more than 1,400 metric tons of unwrought gold worth more than US$106 billion, representing nearly 30 percent of the country’s total exports. Tariffs would have forced US buyers to pay a significant premium for the precious metal versus buyers in London or Shanghai.
Because gold is often used as a store of value in times of uncertainty, any kind of disruption could have had broader implications for investors looking to add stability to their portfolios.
In an email to the Investing News Network (INN), Lauren Saidel-Baker, CFA, an economist with ITR Economics, explained that gold stands out as a unique investment mechanism:
“There are psychological nuances to gold, which is commonly viewed as a safe store of value during uncertain times and an inflation hedge. Overall, the tariff would have added another facet to the already elevated policy uncertainty."
If the tariffs had remained in place, the US gold price would have had to rise to around US$4,700 per ounce to cover levies, while international prices would have remained closer to the US$3,500 mark.
“Tariffs have already complicated supply chains across industries, and this gold tariff would have been another example of added cost and complexity — but in this case, one with the potential to more directly impact investment activities,” Saidel-Baker went on to explain, emphasizing that US investors would have felt the pinch.
Could gold tariffs happen in the future?
Given Trump's unpredictability, especially when it comes to tariffs, it's possible that gold levies could enter the conversation again. However, by and large experts agree that the matter is closed.
“I think it’s pretty clear at this point that there’s no intention to put tariffs on physical gold imports, and I think that would be very damaging and destructive if they did,” Stefan Gleason, CEO of Money Metals, told INN.
Keith Weiner, founder and CEO of Monetary Metals, offered another perspective, saying that although the gold tariff threat is over, the tumult could have long-term effects on the market.
"Once you've put the scare into everybody, you can't just say, 'Oh, sorry, just kidding.' You can't really do that. And so now we've done damage, and we'll see what happens to that spread over time. We'll see how users of the futures market adapt. There are other markets in the world that would be competing for," he explained.
"This hedging business, you know, maybe it moves to Singapore, maybe it moves to Dubai, maybe it moves to London, and the US loses not only a little more trust, but also a little bit of volume on what had been the biggest — or what is currently the biggest — futures market," Weiner added to INN.
Market participants will be watching closely for future impacts on the yellow metal.
Don't forget to follow us @INN_Resource for real-time updates!
Securities Disclosure: I, Dean Belder, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.
Editorial Disclosure: The Investing News Network does not guarantee the accuracy or thoroughness of the information reported in the interviews it conducts. The opinions expressed in these interviews do not reflect the opinions of the Investing News Network and do not constitute investment advice. All readers are encouraged to perform their own due diligence.