Mawson Gold kicks off drilling at prospective Mount Isa block and set to increase footprint in Queensland

Mawson Gold Ltd (TSE:MAW) (OTCPINK:MWSNF) (FRA:MXR) told investors it had kicked off drilling at the Mount Isa block in Queensland, Australia and applied to increase its large ground position in the area.  The Queensland government has provided a grant of A$200,000, which will fully fund one 800 metres (m) long drill hole to test a large undrilled gravity anomaly, called the F11 target. READ: Mawson Gold joint ventures into the Whroo Goldfield in Australia F11 lies laterally from the so-called Cloncurry fault, a significant regional structure, which in itself is near the Cannington silver-lead mine owned by South32 Ltd - the ninth-largest silver producer in the world with 12.3 million ounces (Moz) produced last year. "This government-backed and fully funded drill test of a large, and untested combined gravity and magnetic target in Mount Isa is an exciting moment," said Mike Hudson, Mawson's CEO in a statement. "The Mount Isa Block is true elephant country and contains 5% of the world's silver resources, 1.7% of the world's copper resources, 21.2% of the world's lead resources and 11% of the world's zinc resources within numerous world-class mines, and extends to the south almost as far under 100-500 metres of cover as it extends on the surface." Mawson highlighted that in the late 1980s and early 1990s, widespread use of geophysical techniques and drilling had led to the discovery of a number of major deposits under cover in the Mount Isa region, such as Cannington (around 60m deep), Century (40m) and the iron oxide-copper-gold type deposit, Ernest Henry (40m) but since then, grassroots exploration worldwide had decreased, while searching via new technology had increased. Drilling remains extremely sparse where cover depths exceed over 250m within tens of kilometres around the F11 drill target, it noted. Also in the statement, Mawson said it had applied for a further 312 square kilometres (sq km) of exploration permits for a total of 785 sq km of granted exploration licenses and applications in the Cloncurry district of the Mount Isa block, over a combined 60km strike. The resource group, which has assets in Finland and Australia, said it had raised significant funds in May and now had four rigs turning on three projects through Finland and Australia. Contact the author at giles@proactiveinvestors.com