Boomerang prospect returns quality kaolin hits for Kula

The latest round of RC and diamond holes punched into Kula Gold’s Boomerang prospect has returned high-quality kaolin hits with low impurities that are open in all directions.

Kula says tests revealed Boomerang has thick aluminium oxide zones up to 57m in depth with exceptional consistency and minimal detrimental elements. The average depth over the 1.7km by 1.6km pattern drilled location is 27m.

The extent of the kaolin is open in all directions with an average of 5m cover and mapping outlined a kaolin zone in the southern drillholes of about 43m.

The assays showed nearly half of the RC holes returning kaolin up to the 45 micron size at grades going 35 per cent aluminium oxide with low levels of iron and titanium oxides.

The company is moving towards a JORC 2012 resource statement for the wider Marvel Loch Airfield project in the Southern Cross region of Western Australia.

Management says whilst density and metallurgical testing of diamond drilling continues, further work on halloysite and brightness testing has been paused as potential customers have indicated those components are not necessary for some kaolin-based products at this stage.

The company has also kicked off commercialisation studies and appointed a project manager to push the development closer to reality.

Kaolin is primarily used to increase gloss, smoothness and brightness in the paper industry where it is used as a filler or coating, accounting for more than 40 per cent of market share. The mineral is also used in fibreglass manufacturing to create lightweight composites for the automotive, marine, aerospace and other industries.

The Marvel Loch Airfield gold project in the Southern Cross region is wholly owned by Kula and well serviced by regional infrastructure including power, water and a new blacktop road running within 2km from Boomerang.

The multi-commodity explorer has several other projects in train and recently reported the results of a second volley of auger holes into its Rankin Dome rare earths project, also near Southern Cross and struck a welcome cluster of rare earth elements.

The program unearthed some impressive results across the tenure with 70 per cent of the 375 samples registering more than 115ppm total rare earths elements with two samples peaking at 1080ppm. The prospect was virgin territory with no surface geochemistry or drilling before Kula arrived.

Kula is also waiting on results from an electromagnetic survey it switched on in April across several key targets at its Brunswick nickel-platinum group elements project in the well-addressed West Yilgarn province in WA as it looks to emulate market darling Chalice Mining.

The province burst into prominence in the past two years after Chalice revealed its world-class Julimar Gonneville platinum-group nickel discovery on the outskirts of Perth.

Global miner Newmont also operates Australia’s largest gold mine at Boddington in the same geological setting, also known as the Western Gneiss Terrain and in which its Brunswick project is located.

Kula says it is also keeping an eye out for prospective lithium pegmatite targets during its Brunswick survey.

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