OPERATION FOCUS
small-scale surface workings and it lies about 7 km southeast of the mine.
Drilling programs were carried out at GG over the past eight years including
17 diamond-cored holes that were drilled amounting to 4,751 m of drilling.
Two zones of potentially economic gold mineralisation have been
established down to a depth of approximately 200 m, each with an
estimated strike length of approximately 150 m.
Work commenced on sinking a 3 m by 2 m shaft in 2012 and it has
reached the target depth of 120 m. During shaft sinking operations, the
shaft encountered a mineralised quartz shear with a near vertical
orientation. As the shaft sinking extended below 40 m, this quartz shear
swelled and occupied the full width of the shaft. This zone of mineralisation
has persisted down to 60 m and on assay returned an average grade of
6.0g/t Au. The sulphide intensity of this mineralised shear exposed by the
shaft between the 60 and 90 m levels appears to have weakened but the
shear structure remains intact. Underground diamond drilling will be
undertaken to evaluate the mineralisation of this structure.
Horizontal development has commenced on the 60, 90 and 120 m levels,
cubbies have been developed to allow for diamond drilling of the identified
mineralised zones. To date, four holes, totalling 400 m have been drilled to
investigate the North Main Shear and three of these holes have intersected
mineralisation with averaged grades and thicknesses of about 4 g/t over
about 2 m. Further diamond drilling is in progress to allow for a better
understanding of the geometry of the identified zones. A total of 3,000 m of
diamond drilling is planned from these three development levels during
2013.
The Mascot project area comprises three existing shafts (Mascot,
Penzance and Eagle Vulture) which extend down to various depths of up to
450 m. These shafts and other infrastructure need extensive rehabilitation.
Production at these shafts ceased decades ago due to a combination of
political difficulties and the limitations of the technology that was then
available. Blanket’s management believes that the application of modern
exploration and processing techniques may allow some or all of these
shafts to operate profitably for a period of time, and not just at the
prevailing high gold price. Priority has been given to the rehabilitation and
installation of infrastructure at Mascot. Work at Penzance and Eagle Vulture
has been deferred pending completion of work and underground
development at Mascot.
Mascot was previously mined down to approximately 300 m, exploiting
an orebody which narrowed continuously with depth. The decrease in the
extent of the mined out ore at depth is thought to have been the result of
limitations on mining localised low ore grades and thereby not exposing
the full extent of the mineralised zone. Previous drilling undertaken by
Blanket has indicated the existence of two further mineralised zones, one
on either side of the mined out area.
The shaft has been re-accessed down to the 120 m level below surface
and refurbished. IM
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JANUARY 2018 | International Mining 19