Dart sharpens drill focus in Victorian gold hunt

Dart Mining has stepped up its quest to find high-grade gold at its highly-prospective Rushworth project in the historic gold region of central Victoria, with the completion of two more diamond drillholes.

The latest two holes wrapped up the company’s phase one drill program at its flagship operation and consisted of 868m drilled across six holes. Polishing off the campaign at the geologically-significant Growlers Hill Reef revealed promising signs for the two holes that targeted the deposit’s northern extension, with both intersecting big zones of broken ground.

The most northern hole intersected a stockwork of veins around the interpreted depth of the reef, with sulphides observed in the core. The second hole, drilled 40m south of the first, displayed quartz-dominant features and alteration with pyrite sulphides.

‘The program has achieved the intended goal of defining the structural setting of the Growlers Hill Region.’

Dart Mining chairman James Chirnside

Drilling at Growlers Hill Reef was designed to test structural controls on mineralisation that has historically been mined from surface and at depth to 100m from the Growlers Reef shaft. It drilling confirmed the company’s expected structural model and its interpreted position of the Growlers Hill Fault that was intersected in all holes.

Dart Mining chairman James Chirnside said: “The program has achieved the intended goal of defining the structural setting of the Growlers Hill Region. Logging of the drilling, interpretation and assays will provide further significant insights to the structural controls of the historically mined gold at Growlers Hill, but also the wider Rushworth region.”

The company says mineralisation in the Rushworth region has been dominated by “free gold” in quartz veins hosted within sandstone or shale material. It is particularly interested in areas displaying potential intersections of major structures, increasing the opportunity for gold deposition.

Dart says its phase two drilling program has been approved and it will begin shortly. It aims to drill 1630m at three prospects - Star of the West – Shellback – Star of the West West - that all sit along a 2km strike zone along the same southern line of workings as Growlers Hill.

Management plans to soon move its company-owned diamond rig to the intriguing prospects, with the Star of the West target likely to be first cab off the rank. There, it will drill four short holes to test the northern extension of surface workings.