Horizon Minerals grows Crake potential with results up to 28 metres at 3.37 g/t gold

Horizon Minerals Ltd (ASX:HRZ) has returned results of up to 28 metres at 3.37 g/t gold from 32 metres in drilling at Crake deposit within Binduli Gold Project just west of Kalgoorlie-Boulder in the heart of Western Australia’s Goldfields. Phase 2 resource extension drilling comprised 10 step-out holes for 804 metres to a maximum depth of 132 metres following up new mineralisation discovered in phase 1 drilling targeting areas outside the current resource envelope. The resource estimate for Crake stands at 1.27 million tonnes at 1.82 g/t for 73,820 ounces at a 1 g/t lower grade cut-off and remains open to the north and west. Satellite projects Crake is one of four core satellite gold projects being advanced to complement the baseload Boorara Gold Project as part of a consolidated feasibility study to deliver an initial five-year mine plan and underpin the establishment of a standalone processing facility at Boorara. Horizon managing director Jon Price said: “These further excellent drilling results continue to demonstrate the potential scale and quality of Crake and the entire Binduli project area and we are just getting started.” “More we drill, the more we find” He said: “The more we drill, the more we find which gives us great confidence with a 70,000 metres drill program for FY21 well underway. “Further drilling results will continue to be generated as we work towards updated resource estimates and mine design work to feed into the consolidated feasibility study.” Within the 28-metre intersection was 4 metres at 12.4 g/t from 36 metres and other strong results were 8 metres at 1.85 g/t from 56 metres, 16 metres at 1.43 g/t from 56 metres and 4 metres at 1.27 g/t from 92 metres. Results confirm the emergence of new, high-grade mineralisation in an area with limited drilling which remains open and striking toward the northern extension of the new Coote prospect 700 metres to the west. Objectives of the drilling The phase 2 drill program had two main objectives: to follow-up the phase 1 northwest extension discovered at Crake that returned 8 metres at 2.41 g/t and 6 metres at 3.20 g/t and to follow-up shallow high-grade intercepts on the eastern edge of Crake that returned 12 metres at 6.68 g/t. Most phase 2 shallow holes returned lower grade mineralisation and have now closed off the eastern edge of Crake mineralisation. Several holes were drilled north of hole BRC20014 that returned three gold intervals and successfully encountered similar mineralisation in multiple holes.  The standout 28-metre intersection was achieved in the northwest of the system. Step-out drilling around this hole is planned for next month with diamond drilling to deliver a better understanding of the cross-cutting structures responsible for the high-grade mineralisation and other significant results in the northwest area. Structural diamond drilling to 100 metres depth was also completed at Crake for reserve conversion and further metallurgical test-work with assays received from one hole returning 19.3 metres at 2.09 g/t from 68 metres. Toll milling campaigns Trial mining at Boorara is complete and toll milling campaigns will continue to generate revenue through to January 2021. Drilling is continuing in parallel across multiple projects to update resource estimates for all core projects (Boorara, Binduli, Teal, Rose Hill and Kalpini) in the December 2020 and March 2021 quarters enabling reserve generation in the June quarter of 2021. Next steps Phase 2 drilling at Coote is being completed and after that, the rig will move back to Crake to start the final phase 3 step-out program which will mostly target the northwest area. All resource drilling data is also being incorporated into the geological models for the compilation of an updated mineral resource estimate for Crake and a maiden mineral resource estimate for Coote. Drilling with three rigs is ongoing at Binduli, Teal and Kalpini with further results expected in coming months. Mine optimisation and design work for reserve generation has started as a part of the consolidated feasibility study due for completion in the June quarter of 2021.