Kaiser targets untapped reefs beneath old Victorian goldfield
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Murray Region
Kaiser Reef has launched a major multi-pronged exploration and development assault on the Maldon gold project in Victoria.
The work is spearheaded by the official launch of underground renovations at the fully permitted Union Hill mine and a new drilling offensive against a variety of high-grade targets.
In rehabilitating Union Hill, stripping development work will be used to create a new northern access drilling platform 250 meters downhill.
Diamond drilling will begin next quarter and will provide the company with a final vantage point to test unexplored and untested portions of the high-potential, parallel Eaglehawk and Lady reefs beneath the existing mine.
‘It’s exciting to be back working underground at Maldon and this is another milestone for Kaiser Reef.’
Kaiser Reef General Manager Brad Valiukas
Also front and center of the company’s aggressive exploration campaign is a brand new target called Quill, next to the Porcupine Flat processing facility.
The hot spot was first captured following a 1090-metre sterilization air core drilling program for a new tailings dam operating at 4.16 grams per tonne (g/t) gold from 10 metres; this includes a 2-metre high-grade core grading 9.90 g/t gold from 11 metres.
Kaiser said it has since followed up these results with an electrical resistivity survey that identified a significant quartz reef target just below this mineralization and is now planned for immediate reverse circulation drilling.
Meanwhile, regional phase one soil survey monitoring a previously unsampled 2.7 square kilometer area at Maldon North has revealed a significant 850-metre north-northwest gold trend lying west of the Cumberland Line, one of several historic high-grade quartz veins and working lines in the Maldon goldfield.
Kaiser said the survey had successfully spread the gold anomaly across a 4.4 kilometer area of the mining licence, while 40 meter by 40 meter tight phase two infill soil sampling was already underway to convert anomalies and disturbed areas from previous work into definitive drilling targets.
Although Maldon has historically produced 1.75 million ounces of gold at an enviable 28 grams per tonne (g/t), it represents a district-wide gold opportunity with a wealth of artefacts that remain largely underexplored.
Kaiser Reef general manager Brad Valiukas said:: “Kaiser is a profitable gold miner with a solid balance sheet and a strong pipeline of exploration and development opportunities. “We are well positioned to both benefit from a strong gold price and add significantly more value to our assets through targeted investment.”
The company’s next major exploration milestone begins at Nuggetty South in late June, with a diamond drilling contractor assigned to target a 170-metre untested gap along the newly drilled shallow plunge.
Historic drilling along this plunge yielded outstanding hits including 3.4m at 34.0g/t gold 175m south of the Nuggety well and another hole containing 4.3m at 11.2g/t gold 470m south of the old well.
Kaiser says he is fishing a replica of the adjacent historic Nuggetty Reef, which produced 301,000 ounces of the yellow metal at an eye-popping average grade of 187 g/t.
The company’s new underground exploration drive is supported by an expanded 24-hour processing shift at its Porcupine Flat facility, which is currently processing a 570,000-tonne low-grade stockpile grading 0.48 g/t gold for 8,600 ounces. The expanded transition aims to help Kaiser become self-financing while also reducing processing costs.
With drill rods about to start turning and processing ramping up at the Maldon project, along with a massive $45.6 million war chest ready to go, Kaiser looks set to make a splash on the Victorian goldfields this year.
Bettors will likely be keeping their eyes peeled for initial test results when they start landing.
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