Horizon nails Kalgoorlie gold drilling campaign

Aspiring gold miner Horizon Minerals appears to have nailed its drilling campaign at the Peyes Farm prospect just 10km northwest of Kalgoorlie in Western Australia’s Goldfields. Numerous high-grade hits have been returned including a 4-metre interval going a whopping 18.17 grams per tonne gold. A resource estimate update is anticipated for the June quarter this year.

Horizon’s landholding in the world-renowned gold mining region covers some 890 square kilometres located within 75km of Kalgoorlie. A resource base from several satellite deposits on the tenure already hosts over 1 million ounces of gold, with the jewel in the crown being the Boorara deposit containing 507,000 ounces in the measured, indicated and inferred categories.

The company is conducting a feasibility study on the Boorara production hub where an initial five-year mine life is anticipated. Base-load feed from the Boorara deposit is planned to be supplemented by feed from four other project areas owned by the company, Teal Camp, Kalpini, Binduli and Rosehill. Horizon expects the feasibility study to be completed this year and is targeting gold production for 2022.

The recently completed drilling campaign at Peyes Farm appears to have hit the mark and put the company in good stead to grow the feed for the Boorara processing facility. Peyes Farm forms part of the Teal Camp area and is located just 20km northwest of Boorara.

A total of 49 reverse circulation and 3 diamond drill holes were completed to test extensions of a higher-grade supergene zone and to improve the existing resource classification.

Stand-out intercepts of 4m going 18.17 g/t gold from 79m, 4m at 13.05 g/t gold from 53m and 7m at 3.97 g/t gold from just 30m are some examples from a suite of solid returns. The results confirm excellent width and grade continuity within the supergene zone with mineralisation remaining open to the north and south, according to management.

Horizon reports that preliminary test work suggests the metallurgy at Peyes Farm is similar to the Teal deposit that was mined and processed in 2018, generating A$7 million in cash for the company. Teal was mined to 65m vertical depth with 94 per cent recoveries in the oxide zone and 90 per cent recoveries in the transition ore zone.

New high-grade shoots were also discovered via the drilling campaign and appear to show similarities to Teal with the highest grades reported from the supergene zone between 25m and 80m vertical depth.

The campaign also improved drill density at Peyes Farm to 10m spacing allowing for better definition of the ore zones, management reports.

Teal Camp consists of the Teal, Jacques Find and Peyes Farm deposits and already boasts a combined mineral resource of 289,000 ounces of the precious yellow metal at 2.1 g/t gold.

The recently completed campaign at Peyes Farm is the first since 2017 where Horizon defined a maiden resource estimate of 0.53 million tonnes at 1.7 g/t for around 29,000 ounces of gold.

The company now plans to update the resource estimate in the June quarter this year, whilst open cut mine optimisation and design studies are expected to follow for the purpose of ore reserve generation as part of the ongoing feasibility study.

Further extensional drilling at Peyes Farm is also on the cards for later in 2021.

With Horizon looking to grow the feed for the Boorara processing facility, positive signs are starting to emerge. The bumper drilling results from Peyes Farm will put investors on alert with news set to keep flowing throughout the year as the company aims to bring the Boorara production hub to life in 2022.

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