Torian poised to expand Leonora gold resource

ASX-listed gold explorer, Torian Resources has extended the interpreted strike length of the gold-bearing zone at its Mt Stirling gold project approximately 40km north-west of Leonora in WA to more than 1.1km. It comes in the midst of the Perth-based company’s ongoing drilling push aimed at building on an existing inferred resource for Mt Stirling of 727,021 tonnes of ore at an average grade of 1.45 grams per tonne for 33,893 ounces of contained gold.

An additional inferred resource of 253,500 tonnes of ore at 2.01 g/t for 16,384 ounces of contained gold lies in the nearby Stirling Well deposit and Torian hopes to release revised mineral resource estimates for both deposits – that sit within the same Stirling tenement block – by the end of this month and the end of this quarter, respectively.

The company has so far punched out 55 RC and diamond drill holes across a trio of work programs at Mt Stirling, lifting the total number of holes to be incorporated into the new resource estimates to 85 when combined with historical drilling data.

With delays at inundated assay labs as common as tattoos that decorate mine workers’ limbs, Torian says it aims to take advantage of the hold-up by cramming in as many of the pending assays as it can into the imminent gold resource update.

Results for 28 drill holes at Mt Stirling, 16 holes at Stirling Well and 19 holes from the project’s adjoining Diorite block are still to come.

According to Torian, the Mt Stirling Main Zone, Mt Stirling Hanging Wall lode and Viserion lode all remain open along strike and down dip. RC drilling is continuing with extension holes.

Among an array of encouraging intercepts, stand-out gold hits from its drilling to date have included 12m grading an average 4.74 g/t from 15m, 2m going 48 g/t from 106m, 4m at 8.84 g/t from 187m and 3m at 5.35 g/t from 18m.

Torian says the Mt Stirling “gold system” remains open in multiple directions and it has also encountered what it calls a new western zone immediately west of the Main Zone.

With each batch of results received, it becomes clearer and clearer to us that we’re sitting on something quite substantial at Mt Stirling. We have demonstrated that we are ‘on the system’, with our immediate task being to define the actual footprint of Mt Stirling, as it continues to remain open along strike and depth.

Should results confirm our interpretation of a shear-hosted gold system that continues at depth, for considerable down-dip depth, it would mean that Mt Stirling’s multiple gold structures continue to have the potential to … resemble that of regional operating gold mines.

Those operations, Torian says, include St Barbara’s 4.8-million-ounce Gwalia gold mine and Saracen’s 3.8-million-ounce Thunderbox mine.

Torian has already started laying plans for a further massive 50,000m auger, RC and diamond drilling blitz to follow up “high-priority” targets at the project’s Stirling and Diorite blocks. The Stirling block takes in the Mt Stirling and Stirling Well deposits, while tenements surrounding Diorite contain Red 5’s nearby, developing 4.1-million-ounce King of the Hills gold project.

Torian’s next drill campaign that will also test the newly discovered western zone and for extensions to Stirling Well has been scheduled to kick off in coming days. With a track record of solid results to date, the company will no doubt be looking to extend the streak in the weeks and months ahead.

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