Auric locks in prime WA Higginsville gold tenements

Auric Mining has ramped up its gold game by completing a deal to buy five red-hot tenements just a stone’s throw from some of Western Australia’s most fertile gold ground directly west of the renowned Higginsville project.

The company has paid $450,000 to settle the first tranche of the Loded Dog gold project. A further three leases – costing $25,000 – are awaiting their final paperwork.

Under the deal, Auric will pay two additional milestone-based payments of $100,000 for reaching a 20,000-ounce gold resource on the prospects and a further $150,000 tied to discoveries of more than 50,000 ounces.

The company has also agreed to pay a net smelter royalty of 1.5 per cent on gold production.

The purchase of the strategic area from a private exploration company expands Auric’s landholding by 113 square kilometres and increases its stranglehold on the prospective Widgiemooltha-Higginsville region, south of Kalgoorlie.

Auric’s new grounds sit in prime gold country, surrounded by a cluster of established producers.

Among them is the legendary Trident mine, which was once owned by Avoca Resources and remains a jewel in the crown of the Higginsville project. Trident earned its reputation as one of the region’s richest underground gold mines with an impressive one-million-ounce resource at a high-grade 4.4 grams per tonne (g/t) gold.

Just next door, Westgold Resources is running the show at the Beta Hunt–Higginsville operations, which has a hefty 2.8M ounces of gold.

Auric Mining managing director Mark English said: “This is incredible gold country, some of the best in the world, with gold mines all around this tenure including Westgold’s Higginsville gold assets. Loded Dog and Spargoville are now our two most exciting gold exploration targets. Developing their potential will be a priority for our exploration efforts in the immediate term.”

The Loded Dog project holds a combination of brownfield and greenfield targets, which Auric says are dripping with promise, given they sit in a region with high-quality geology and proven potential.

Auric was attracted to the project because it includes the promising Amorphous and Foote’s Find prospects. Both targets come with tantalising historical drilling results and present exciting targets for further exploration.

Amorphous was recognised by Resolute Limited in the early 1990

after the company ran a soil sample survey backed up with an air core exploration campaign. The first reverse circulation holes were drilled at the prospect in 1994. Australian Gold Resources and then by Orpheus ran further reverse circulation drill programs as recently as 2020.

The most significant shallow high-grade gold hits that lit up across a 1-kilometre strike include 2 metres grading 10.27g/t gold from 28m, 5m running at 5.16g/t gold from 18m and 9m at 3.32g/t gold from 78m.

All up, the prospect has been peppered with 114 reverse circulation, rotary air blast and air core holes, giving Auric a massive database with which to work.

The drill bit at Foote’s Find has also thrown up plenty of glitter since the prospect was discovered in the 1980s and then developed by its namesake into two small open pits. Foote’s mining endeavours ultimately proved unsuccessful.

In the 1990s, Resolute took a deeper dive into the site’s potential, drilling 21 reverse circulation holes and 11 shallow 6m air core holes in and around the existing pits. In 2020, Orpheus stepped up to the plate to have another go at unravelling the project’s secrets.

Auric’s detailed study of historic drill data has unearthed high-grade shallow hits including 3m grading 4.65g/t gold from 30m and 3m running at 4.99g/t gold from 41m, hinting at what treasures may lie beneath.

At both prospects, the mineralisation appears to hug the western flank of a north-south trending shear zone hosted in ultramafic and dolerite rocks and resting between bands of mafic and metasedimentary formations.

Adding to the exploration potential, a cluster of impressive high-grade results just east of the shear mark up a promising secondary drill target.

Now that the project is firmly in Auric’s hands, the company is gearing up for a hard-hitting 20-hole reverse circulation drill campaign. Amorphous is first on the list and previously identified shallow hits will be tested at both depth and along strike.

At Foote’s Find, the drill rig will test out depth extensions to the two small open pits - spanning almost 300m of strike - to see what else is lurking below.

Auric has made its intentions of cashing in on a screaming gold bull market clear by continuing to build a serious footprint in one of Australia’s hottest gold corridors.

With the new grounds already whispering gold and such mouthwatering targets being served up, punters are likely to be watching the company’s upcoming drilling blitz with eagle eyes.

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