Kula to target shallow WA gold prospects in upcoming program

Kula Gold plans to target a plethora of shallow gold prospects in its upcoming drill program at the company’s existing 51 per cent owned Mt Palmer gold mine in WA’s Southern Cross goldfields region.

In addition to the multiple targets on offer, the company aims to generate a range of new prospects from its ground that sits within a 10km long greenstone belt.

Management says it plans to target the potential greenstone belt appearing to run for about 10km to the east of the historic mine - aptly dubbed Mt Palmer East. Kula Gold says the potential eastern zone was uncovered from coincident geophysical surveys and previous air-core (AC) drill programs conducted across the site.

The original AC drill program on the eastern ground was completed in 1993 and targeted bedrock mineralisation for a single east-to-west, 3.5km line traverse, with varying gold grades discovered between 86m and 89m.

The company notes historic 1m hits ranged from 0.56 grams per tonne gold up to 102g/t and, importantly, it believes there has been no reverse-circulation (RC) or diamond drilling into the underlying bedrock.

Kula Gold now plans to set its sights on the eastern area and furiously drill into the basement rock, as part of a significant program to unlock the full potential of the site.

The potential target areas include the Bryant prospect, with historical results of 4m at 3.02g/t gold from 18m and a 7m slice grading 3g/t from 15m, with both open along strike and at depth. Drilling at Bryant is planned for early next year.

Another prospective area is El Dorado, with a 6m hit going 8.3g/t gold from 28m.

The Meiers Find prospect has a 600m geochemical anomaly from an ultra-fine-fraction soil program that was recently conducted, in addition to promising drill results of 1m at 15.4g/t gold and 2m returning 1.7g/t gold from 30m.

The combination of soils and drill results is also coincident with historical regional magnetics across the area, providing a solid shallow target for RC drilling.

Mt Palmer East is a further area worth prodding hard with the drill-bit due to previous assays returning a 3m hit at 9.1g/t and a super solid 1m grading 102g/t at end of hole. It remains open in all directions.

Amidst a robust global gold market, Kula is advancing its high-grade gold assets towards maiden resources along the Mt Palmer greenstone belt. We have a substantial land package in the right geological setting with multiple priority targets that warrant testing.

Dawson went on to say the region hosts multiple high-grade gold deposits and Kula’s tenure adjoins the greenstone belt that hosts the 3 million ounce marvel Loch mine and sits directly along strike from the 2m ounce historical Yilgarn Star operation.

Kula hammered in two diamond holes this quarter at Mt Palmer to obtain structural data on the old workings, for a total of 307.4m to extend RC pre-collars. The holes are considered key structural holes to enable the company to begin modelling the gold system in play and are expected to aid in future discovery.

The company engaged structural geology experts SRK Consulting, who indicated the historical high-grade gold shoots developed within strata-bound veins on the limbs and closures of pre-existing folds.

The lodes were previously mined across a strike length up to 200m and to depths of 155m below the surface.

Kula completed its 51 per cent purchase of the Mt Palmer gold mine from ASX-listed “goldie” Aurumin in July and can earn a further 29 per cent to bring its stake to 80 per cent by incurring an additional $1 million within three years. Thereafter, both firms will contribute on a pro-rata basis or Aurumin’s position can be diluted.

The historic Mt Palmer operation produced more than 150,000 ounces of gold grading 15.9g/t before it was shuttered in 1944 due to labour and materials shortages resulting from World War II.

In the midst of a roaring gold price that has the seen a gain of near 30 per cent this year, Kula will be seeking confirmation from the upcoming drill program that its decision to climb up Mt Palmer was a solid-gold idea.

Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact: matt.birney@wanews.com.au