KEY HIGHLIGHTS
- Data filtering confirms much of the Yundamindra Project area remains unexplored despite the discovery of shallow high-grade gold mineralization at numerous prospects including Pennyweight Point C Landed at Last.
- ~75% of historical holes were restricted to the weathered zone and drill depths of less than 50m.
- ~G7% of historical holes were restricted to drill depths of less than 80m.
- A total of 34 holes only, including recent drilling by Arika, have been drilled beyond 100m depth and only 4 holes have been drilled deeper than 200m.
- The entire Western Corridor (Landed at Last) remains unexplored beneath 80m depth over a strike length in excess of 10km’s.
- The review highlights clear depth C strike potential across the greater Yundamindra Project area including Pennyweight Point C Landed at Last where Arika’s recent maiden drilling campaigns reported a series of exceptional and extensional results including1,2,3,4:
- Pennyweight Point
- 14m @ 15.48 g/t Au from 46m (YMRC077);
- 33m @ 3.35 g/t Au from 22m (YMRC071);
- 33m @ 2.63 g/t Au from 85m (YMRC063);
- 30m @ 3.86 g/t Au from 8Gm (YMRC06G)
- 30m @ 2.36 g/t Au from 64m (YMRC060)
- Landed at Last
- 30m @ 2.26 g/t Au from 26m (YMRC050)
- 40m @ 1.22 g/t Au from 30m (YMRC048);
- 26m @ 1.46 g/t Au from 22m (YMRC046);
- A review of all geophysical and geochemical data is in progress to guide ongoing targeting.
- Follow-up drilling at the Yundamindra Project, commencing at Pennyweight Point C Landed at Last, is on schedule to re-start next week.
The work has revealed that the vast majority of historical holes, which were completed in the 1980’s- 1990’s, were restricted to the near surface weathered zone and drill depths of less than 80m.
Arika’s Managing Director Justin Barton said:
“Having completed a highly successful maiden drilling program on three prospects at Yundamindra, that delivered outstanding results, we are excited to provide an update of our review and analysis of all historical data and our recent drilling results. Despite the project appearing to have seen extensive drilling, mainly in the 80s and 30s, analysis shows that ~37% of all historical holes were restricted to the weathered zone and drill depths of less than 80m, where drilling was essentially blade refusal (RAB/ aircore) targeting shallow high-grade oxide resources.
This presents an exciting opportunity for Arika as the mineralisation essentially remains unexplored at depth and along strike, providing a great opportunity for a significant further gold discovery outside of the shallow oxide as we chase the source of the mineralisation in the underlying bedrock and along strike.
As we continue to review all geological and geochemical data, we are also eager to recommence drilling, anticipated to re-start next week, as we begin to test the extensions to the Pennyweight Point and Landed at Last prospects”.
Review of results and historical datasets at Yundamindra
Arika’s recently completed drilling programs at Yundamindra, the first in over 10 years at the project, consisted of 77 reverse circulation (RC) drillholes (YMRC001-YMRC077) for a total metreage of approximately 6,000m5,6.
The primary objectives of this phase were to validate historical results and to test for bedrock hosted gold mineralisation beneath the shallow historical occurrences.
The objectives have been achieved, with each campaign delivering spectacular results, firmly establishing the potential for Yundamindra to host a significant gold deposit.
Results for all of the drilling completed to date were reported in the Company’s ASX announcements:
- “Maiden Yundamindra Program Delivers Excellent Gold Results” dated 15 July 2024
- “More Impressive Gold Intersections Returned at Yundamindra” dated 22 July 2024
- “Exceptional 30m @ 3.86 g/t Au Intercept at Yundamindra” dated 20 September 2024
- “Pennyweight Point Delivers More Thick High Grade Hits” dated 26 September 2024
- “Exceptional Gold Results from Pennyweight Point Drilling” dated 23 October 2024, and
- “More Outstanding Gold Intercepts Grow Scale at Yundamindra” dated 06 November 2024
An analysis of our recent drilling results, in conjunctions with a review of all historical datasets has revealed that despite the known prospects at Yundamindra appearing to have been extensively drilled (Figure 1 below), further interrogation of the data reveals that ~97% of all drilling has been limited to weathered zones and depths of less than 80 metres (Figure 2).
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Figure 1: Gossan sample KRP065 rich in iron (24.95%) and manganese (>5%) and exhibiting a vuggy texture.
Figure 2: Rock Chip sample sites on infill soil sampling locations
Figure 3: Shallow conductive feature associated with gossan sample KPR065.
Figure 4: Kiabye South Magnetic linear target with several anomalous gold in soil samples, up to 64ppb along a strike of over 2km in length, Contours in red with peaks labelled in ppb,