Aurumin Limited ("Aurumin") is pleased to provide an update on its exploration activities at the 100 %-owned Sandstone Operations, northeast of Perth, in Western Australia. The Company has commenced site preparations for its Reverse Circulation (RC) drilling campaign, and has also sent historical sample pulps for assay, targeting both gold and iron ore potential.
Highlights:
- Drill Site Preparations: Site preparation work has commenced for the RC drilling campaign at Sandstone, which will target gold mineralisation. All necessary approvals for the drilling program have been secured.
- Follow-Up Drilling at Plum Pudding: Follow-up drilling at the Plum Pudding Prospect, focusing on resource extension following the recent discovery of 18 m @ 25.80 g/t Au from 30 m.
- Drilling Program Expansion: The program will also cover additional gold targets at the Mt Klempt South, Two Mile Hill West, and Old Town Trend prospects, as well as the first drill program at the Birrigrin, Dandaraga, and E57/1140 projects.
- Historical Sample Assays for Iron Ore: Approximately 320 historical sample pulps have been retrieved and are being submitted for iron and multi-element assay.
- Iron Ore Potential: The reprocessing and interpretation of geophysical datasets by Aurumin’s consultants have improved the visualisation of iron beds, assisting in the targeting of both iron and gold mineralisation.
Brad Valiukas, Managing Director of Aurumin, commented: “We remain focussed on generating the critical mass required for future production at our Sandstone Operations, targeting additional open pit material to support an operational restart. This next round of drilling will look to expand the existing gold Resource at Plum Pudding, flesh-out some of the confirmed new gold targets on the mining leases and step further afield to the Birrigrin Project and Dandaraga prospect to target some potential higher-grade sweeteners.
"As we consider the iron ore, it's a bonus that some of our targets are already drilled, never assayed for iron and have the pulps stored on site. We have selected samples from 19 holes that overlap with what we could have done as first pass drilling, following up the surface sampling and modelling. This is a cost-efficient assessment of the iron potential suggested by outcrop and puts us in a position to move quickly subject to results We will finalise the next campaign as a whole once the now in transit samples are assayed.
"The close proximity of the iron to some of our gold deposits, not to mention the potential value of the iron ore itself, could significantly alter the project economics. We have commenced multiple dialogues with interested parties around the iron ore, and it's clearly something that could accelerate an operational restart."
Next Steps:
Aurumin will continue with the RC drilling campaign as planned, while awaiting the results from the historical sample assays that have been sent off. The results will inform the finalisation of the next drilling campaign.