Platina chases strike extensions at emerging Laverton gold play

Platina Resources has fired up the drill rig for a second time, kicking off an aircore drilling campaign at its Granite Well East prospect, which forms part of the company’s Mt McKenna gold project just 13 kilometres east of Laverton in Western Australia.

The 53-hole, 3200-metre program is designed to follow up highly encouraging gold mineralisation hits from a previous campaign and will test strike continuity and the system’s lateral extent.

The new work at Granite Well East follows an earlier phase-three program that unearthed multiple mineralised zones, including a notable one-metre hit of a hefty 7.1 grams per tonne (g/t) gold from just 40m. Several intercepts from that campaign either finished in mineralisation or near the bottom of the hole, hinting the system remains open at depth.

Other encouraging results from the earlier drilling included a 4-metre section grading 1.11g/t gold from just 12m, associated with a strong arsenic anomaly and a separate 7-metre intercept going 0.61g/t gold from 36m that continued to the bottom of the hole. A further hole delivered 4m grading 0.93g/t gold from 52m, also ending at the bottom of the hole.

‘This drill program is designed to test the potential strike continuity and lateral extent of the gold mineralisation.’

Platina Resources managing director Dr Paul Polito

The company is well-funded for the push after banking the final US$2 million (A$2.9M) payment from the sale of its Owendale scandium project to mining goliath Rio Tinto. The deal, which closed in stages over three years, delivered a whopping US$14 million (AU$20M) into Platina’s coffers.

Platina Resources managing director Dr Paul Polito said: “The results of the program will assist in determining the scale, continuity and significance of mineralisation and guide subsequent exploration, such as reverse circulation drilling or induced polarisation surveys.”

The project’s address has a rich pedigree, sitting adjacent to Genesis Minerals’ 3.9-million-ounce Laverton project and just 20km north-east of Gold Fields’ 3.9-million-ounce Granny Smith gold mine. The Granite Well East target itself lies at what is interpreted to be the intersection of two major structural corridors, a setting often favourable for trapping gold-bearing fluids.

Notably, the Laverton district remains a hive of exploration activity, with nearby explorers continuing to deliver positive news flow - a backdrop further enhanced by a robust Australian-dollar gold price, currently sitting around the A$6000-per-ounce mark.

The company’s savvy exploration model of advancing early-stage projects before monetising them to fund the next generation of opportunities looks to be paying dividends. The Owendale scandium sale to Rio proved a textbook example, shifting the capital and development risk of a specialist critical minerals project to a major with the balance sheet to handle it, while leaving Platina cashed-up to chase gold.

The company has also demonstrated its willingness to take the tin-snips to its portfolio, having previously sold its Xanadu project, relinquished Challa and farmed out Brimstone to other explorers.

Beyond Mt McKenna, Platina still holds its Sunrise Bore project, 44km south of Laverton, which previously delivered a solid 29m at 3.38g/t gold from just 11m. That hit included an 11-metre core grading an eye-catching 8.62g/t alongside further intersections of 18m at 1.12g/t and 37m running 0.43g/t. The first campaign tested just 200m of a much bigger 1.2km mineralised trend sitting within a broader 3.6km structural corridor, leaving plenty of untouched ground for the drill bit to chew through.

Platina’s portfolio also includes the earlier-stage Mt Morgans South prospect, 35km south-west of Laverton. The 126.4-square-kilometre patch of ground sits near Genesis Minerals’ three-million-tonne-per-annum Mt Morgans processing plant and its 1.4 million-ounce Westralia gold deposit, highlighting the strategic nature of the address.

With the Rio Tinto deal now financially complete, a healthy bank balance, and the drill rods turning in one of WA’s most productive and richly endowed gold districts, Platina’s focus now appears to be shifting squarely to unearthing a meaningful discovery.

Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact: mattbirney@bullsnbears.com.au