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Gascoyne Resources Limited (“Gascoyne” or “Company”) (ASX: GCY) is pleased to report the latest assay results received from ongoing resource and exploration drilling at the Dalgaranga Gold Project in Western Australia.
Key Points:
- Analysis of pre-collar RC chips from deeper Diamond Tail drillholes targeting Never Never at depth continues to return anomalous assays from a new shallow “hangingwall” position further west of the Never Never Gold Deposit.
- DGRC1183 (RC Pre-collar) returned the following assays in a new location;
- 10.0m @ 12.15g/t gold from 237.0m, including 6.0m @ 19.53g/t (DGRC1183-PC)
- This result follows on from DGRC1187-PC which returned 4m @ 24.46g/t gold from 160m downhole in the same new prospect area (reported 16 May 2023)
- 10.0m @ 12.15g/t gold from 237.0m, including 6.0m @ 19.53g/t (DGRC1183-PC)
- Deeper infill. DGRC1185-DT has intercepted;
- 17.4m @ 12.28g/t gold from 488.16m, including 3.97m @ 18.88g/t, infilling the untested area up-plunge from DGRC1183-DT (previously reported) and well below the current resource envelope.
- 17.4m @ 12.28g/t gold from 488.16m, including 3.97m @ 18.88g/t, infilling the untested area up-plunge from DGRC1183-DT (previously reported) and well below the current resource envelope.
- DGDH033 testing the lowest point of Unclassified material (unreported) from the current Never Never MRE has returned good confirmatory widths and grades in this area;
- 13.0m @ 11.35g/t gold from 403.0m, including 5.94m @ 21.99g/t (DGDH033)
- 13.0m @ 11.35g/t gold from 403.0m, including 5.94m @ 21.99g/t (DGDH033)
- DGRC1194-DT testing beyond the edges of the deeper southern portion of the current MRE returned;
- 10.0m @ 7.50g/t gold from 355.0m, including 3.0m @ 11.93g/t (DGRC1194-DT)
- 10.0m @ 7.50g/t gold from 355.0m, including 3.0m @ 11.93g/t (DGRC1194-DT)
- DGRC1210 has intercepted mineralisation 80m further south of the current MRE envelope and down dip of the footwall Gilbey’s stratigraphic sequence.
- 7.0m @ 6.77g/t gold from 318.0m, including 3.0m @ 13.35g/t (DGRC1210)
- 7.0m @ 6.77g/t gold from 318.0m, including 3.0m @ 13.35g/t (DGRC1210)
- New deep mineralised intercept. DGRC1204-DT intercepted ~24m of strong Never Never- style mineralisation from 445.7m downhole, including visible gold at 453m downhole. Assays pending.
Drilling continues to provide further insights into the potential scale, significance, and growth upside of the rapidly emerging Never Never gold deposit at Dalgaranga, with the latest assays returning significant high-grade mineralisation 110 metres below the current Mineral Resource Estimate (“MRE”) boundary.
Gascoyne Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Simon Lawson, said: “This round of assays is targeting and testing the extremities of the Never Never Gold Deposit system. We are looking to ascertain where the edges of this new system are for the upcoming MRE update.
We have another deep mineralised intercept with visible gold well below the current resource in DGRC1204-DT, with significant infill results within the deeper part of our upcoming resource update in DGRC1185-DT, there continues to be good widths and grades outside the resource to the south in DGRC1210 and at depth in DGDH033 and DGRC1194-DT illustrating that this mineralised system appears to be improving with depth, and to top that another solid high-grade hit, 10m @ 12g/t gold in the pre-collar of DGRC1183-DT. The deepest drill-hole assayed so far at Never Never returned an incredible 29m @ 11.09g/t gold from over 400m downhole and now we get 10m @ 12g/t from 237m in the same hole.!
To add to the growing high-grade Never Never system and the nearby high-grade prospects being discovered, the Company is drilling the deepest hole yet into Never Never targeting 550-600 metres down-plunge to test the depth extension. The Company is also drilling several high-priority high-grade targets in the near vicinity of Never Never and will provide an update as that work progresses. The exploration team is not resting on the Never Never discovery, but looking to take what has been learned and test other high-grade opportunities in and around the Dalgaranga mill as quickly as possible.”
Never Never is a new high-grade gold deposit which strikes and plunges to the west-south-west. The deposit was discovered while following up wide, high-grade drill intercepts from the earlier Gilbey’s North extension discovery immediately north of the Gilbey’s open pit at Dalgaranga. Due to the high-grade and apparent scale of Never Never, this deposit now represents the foundation of the Company’s new operating and growth plan.
Never Never is distinct from the Gilbey’s North discovery due to considerable differences in tenor, thickness of mineralisation, mineralogy, scale, orientation and host structure/rock-type. Despite these differences, due to the close spatial association of the two deposits, the Never Never and Gilbey’s North deposits are collectively known as the “Never Never Gold Deposit”.
Never Never is much higher grade than any of the previously defined ore bodies at Dalgaranga and appears to be far more structural, fold and/or shear-hosted as opposed to the more stratigraphic/shale- associated historically defined Gilbey’s series of gold deposits.
On 23 January 2023 Gascoyne released an updated Never Never Gold Deposit Mineral Resource Estimate of 303,100 ounces @ 4.64g/t gold (comprising 1.0Mt @ 2.45g/t for 86,500oz Au “Open Pit” (>0.5g/t Au) and 0.93Mt @ 7.22g/t for 216,600oz Au “Underground” (>2.0g/t Au)).
Figure 1: Long-section of the Never Never Gold Deposit with current resource estimation blocks (coloured by block grade).
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.
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This article includes content from Gascoyne 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.
Gold Price 2024 Year-End Review
Read on for more on what factors moved the gold price in Q4, followed by a look back at the entire year.
Gold price in Q4
The gold price began Q4 at US$2,660.30, but quickly saw a retraction to US$2,608.40 on October 9. However, the decline didn't last, and gold again rose, setting a new record high of US$2,785.40 on October 30.
The surge upward was fueled by a weaker-than-expected September US consumer price index report, which showed annual inflation of 2.4 percent and monthly inflation of 0.2 percent. These numbers were higher than analysts' forecasts of 2.3 and 0.1 percent, raising expectations that the Fed would cut rates at its November meeting.
Gold was in retreat to start November, dropping to US$2,664 on November 6 after Trump’s victory. The next day, it briefly surged above the US$2,700 mark as the Fed cut interest rates by 25 basis points on November 7.
By November 15, the price of gold had fallen to its quarterly low of US$2,562.50.
The end of the month saw gold leap to US$2,715.80 on November 22. Following this peak, gold entered December below the US$2,700 mark, closing at US$2,660.50 on December 9.
Gold price, Q4 2024.
Chart via Trading Economics.
Geopolitical impacts have been important to gold in Q4.
In addition to Trump's re-election, which has caused turmoil in various forms, on November 17 the US authorized Ukraine to use ATACMS long-range missiles to attack targets deeper into Russian territory. The UK and France mirrored this move, giving Ukraine the green light to use long-range missiles in the ongoing conflict.
Tensions continued to ratchet up in the days following as Russia announced it was lowering the threshold for nuclear retaliation to include conventional attacks from countries backed by nuclear nations. In a demonstration of its capabilities, Russia launched an intermediate-range ballistic missile for the first time on November 21. While the missile appeared only to carry inert warheads, it is capable of delivering both conventional and nuclear armaments.
The threat of a significant escalation has bolstered gold’s appeal as a safe-haven asset and store of value.
How did gold perform for the rest of the year?
Gold price in Q1
Gold set its first record price of the year at US$2,251.37 on March 31.
Central bank buying, notably China's purchase of 22 metric tons of gold in the first two months of the year, supported the price. Turkey, Kazakhstan and India also significantly increased their holdings at the start of the year.
Further momentum came from Chinese wholesale demand, which jumped to 271 metric tons in January, the strongest ever recorded. Investors were turning to the yellow metal as a defense against falling real estate and stock prices. At that time, the country's stocks had lost nearly US$5 trillion in value over the past three years.
Gold price, Q1 2024.
Chart via Trading Economics.
“As central banks continue to be significant buyers and geopolitical risks and global uncertainties drive investors towards the perceived safety of gold, the current environment underscores gold’s importance as a strategic asset for portfolio diversification and risk mitigation. Therefore, while there may have been a perception of western disinterest in gold, recent developments indicate a sustained and broad-based demand for the precious metal,” Joe Cavatoni, market strategist, Americas, told the Investing News Network (INN) in an email at the time.
Gold price in Q2
The gold price saw increasing momentum in Q2, setting a new all-time of US$2,450.05 on May 20.
Gains through the quarter were influenced by strong central bank demand. Investor sentiment toward the yellow metal also shifted, with outflows from western exchange-traded funds starting to slow.
Although European funds still saw significant declines, it wasn’t all bad news — the US-based SPDR Gold Shares (NYSE:GLD), the Sprott Physical Gold Trust (NYSE:PHYS), Ireland’s Royal Mint Responsibly Sourced Physical Gold ETC (LSE:RMAU) and Switzerland’s UBS ETF Gold (SWX:AUUSI) all saw increases.
Gold price, Q2 2024.
Chart via Trading Economics.
In a May interview with INN, Jeff Clark, editor of Paydirt Prospector, noted several other market dynamics that caused the price of gold to rise dramatically. He said the real starting point for the precious metal's gains was the end of February, when the Fed indicated it was expecting three or four rate cuts in 2024.
“All of a sudden, gold was off to the races. It jumped so high that suddenly, you had some short covering that needed to happen then as well. So you had short covering, which means they’re buying. And then you had momentum chasers and traders jumping all in. That was a pretty good spike ... that's what kind of started all of this,” he said.
Gold price in Q3
Gold set another record price during the third quarter, reaching US$2,672.51 on September 26.
The high came just a week after the conclusion of the Fed's September meeting, when it announced a jumbo 50 basis point cut to the federal funds rate. While the People’s Bank of China maintained its pause on gold purchases in the third quarter, it granted several regional banks new import quotas in August.
Gold price, Q3 2024.
Chart via Trading Economics.
David Barrett, CEO of the UK division of global brokerage firm EBC Financial Group, suggested at the time that Fed rate cuts were less of a factor for gold than central bank buying. “I still see the global central bank buying as the main driver — as it has been over the last 15 years. This demand removes supply from the market. They are the ultimate buy-and-hold participants and have been buying massive amounts,” he told INN via email.
The quarter also saw significant merger and acquisition activity, with South Africa-based Gold Fields (NYSE:GFI,JSE:GFI) announcing plans to acquire Canada’s Osisko Mining (TSX:OSK) for C$2.16 billion, and South African gold miner AngloGold Ashanti (NYSE:AU) agreeing to purchase UK-based Centamin (TSX:CEE,LSE:CEY) for US$2.5 billion.
Investor takeaway
Overall, uncertainty has been a key driver for gold in 2024.
Central banks have continued to increase their physical holdings against an increasingly polarized political landscape. The most recent data from the World Gold Council shows that they added 186 metric tons of gold to their coffers during the third quarter, with the National Bank of Poland leading the way with 42 metric tons.
The World Gold Council notes that on a rolling four-quarter basis, central bank buying has slowed to 909 metric tons — that's compared to 1,215 metric tons one year ago.
Investors also began returning to the precious metal throughout 2024 as geopolitical tensions and fragile economies pushed them toward gold as a safe haven to help shield their portfolios from volatility.
With the world’s largest economy set to welcome Trump back to the White House in 2025, there are many unknowns. His economic policies could cause inflation to begin creeping up. In contrast, his foreign policies could create new ripples through global trade and financial markets given that he campaigned on more protectionist policies.
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.
