Spartan drill drive to seek deep ounces at high grade Never Never

Spartan Resources’ upcoming exploration drill drive will enable underground drilling to infill and extend existing deposits at its Dalgaranga gold project.

Spartan Resources is heading underground for drilling and to support future mining activities. Pic: Getty Images

• Spartan Resources awards Dalgaranga exploration drill drive contract to Barminco

• Drive will enable underground drilling to infill and extend existing deposits along with exploration for new high-grade shoots

• Drive also designed to support future mine production activities

Special Report: Spartan Resources will soon have the underground platforms it needs to infill and extend existing deposits and identify new high-grade shoots at its Dalgaranga Gold Project after awarding the development contract to Barminco.

The $18.3m contract provides for 2350m of development to deliver twin decline access for the establishment of underground drilling platforms to infill and extend mineralisation within the Never Never, Pepper, Four Pillars and West Winds areas.

Never Never and Pepper have emerged as two of the most exciting high-grade gold discoveries in recent years in WA, transforming the explorer’s prospects and taking its market cap beyond $1 billion.

The drill drive is also designed to support future mine production activities at Spartan Resources’ (ASX:SPR) Dalgaranga Gold Project, which has been one of the ASX’s most alluring comeback stories.

It wasn’t that long ago that the project was placed on care and maintenance after producing >70,000oz of low-grade gold in FY2022.

However, the company’s fortunes – in its previous guise as Gascoyne Resources – took an abrupt U-turn with the discovery of Never Never. Following a string of outstanding drill intersections it’s now a hefty 952,000oz at 5.74g/t gold.

Said deposit, which is expected to grow further, is central to SPR’s goal to develop a five-year mine plan aimed at delivering 130-150,000ozpa through its existing plant.

Drilling of Never Never “lookalikes” has also returned some intriguing successes with the company recently intersecting up to 92.9g/t gold at the Pepper prospect.

Proposed exploration drill drive at Dalgaranga. Pic: Spartan Resources

Exploration drill drive

The underground exploration drill drive takes advantage of the fact that the Never Never, Pepper, Four Pillars and West Winds deposits are all located along a single 800m-long, semi-continuously mineralised north-south stratigraphic horizon.

As such, the drill drive has been designed to run parallel and adjacent to this horizon to provide underground drill platforms that will more effectively define these existing deposits and prospects while facilitating the exploration for further high-grade shoots and providing critical underground infrastructure as SPR develops its future mine plan.

Construction of the drill drive is on track to start in the September quarter, with all regulatory mining approvals and support services in place. It is expected to take about 10 months to complete.

“We are delighted to have Barminco on board to complete the construction of this new drill drive, which represents a very exciting initiative that will enable us to drill from platforms located right alongside our high-grade deposits and targets,” managing director Simon Lawson said.

“This will provide for cheaper, more accurate and quicker drilling to continue to accelerate our resource growth and conversion to ore reserves.

“All of the high-grade deposits and prospects discovered at Dalgaranga over the past two years remain open at depth – with mineralisation at the Never Never deposit now defined to beyond 1km below surface – and we’re very excited to get the underground rigs in place to help determine just how deep this high-grade mineralisation extends.

“Importantly, the drill drive is being constructed using the same dimensions as a standard underground mine development, ensuring it can be incorporated into our infrastructure planning for the future recommencement of mining operations.”

Surface drilling

SPR also expects to shortly restart surface drilling programs.

These will target the Pepper, Four Pillars, West Winds and other near-surface anomalies.

This article was developed in collaboration with Spartan Resources, a Stockhead advertiser at the time of publishing.

This article does not constitute financial product advice. You should consider obtaining independent advice before making any financial decisions.

Originally published as Spartan drill drive to seek deep ounces at high grade Never Never