Zenith Minerals has completed its latest drilling campaign at the Consolidated Dulcie gold project in Western Australia, with the final assays confirming widespread gold mineralisation in the Dulcie Central corridor outside the company’s current resource inventory.
The drilling targeted a 600-metre gap between the Dulcie North and Dulcie deposits, an area not included in Zenith’s existing inferred mineral resource of 21.3 million tonnes at 1.0 g/t for 675,000 ounces of gold.
Zenith received the last 10 results from a 34-hole, 4,601-metre reverse circulation program. In total, 20 of 24 holes drilled into Dulcie Central intersected gold mineralisation, the company reported.
Significant intersections from the latest batch included 5 metres at 1.59 g/t gold from 41m, which contained 3 metres at 2.26 g/t. Other notable hits were 7 metres at 0.82 g/t from 83m including 3 metres at 1.39 g/t, and 7 metres at 0.80 g/t from 29m.
Zenith pointed to historical high-grade results elsewhere in the project that underline the system’s potential, including 32 metres at 9.4 g/t and a narrow 3 metres at 70 g/t from earlier campaigns.
The Consolidated Dulcie project sits in the Southern Cross–Forrestania gold belt and benefits from granted mining leases and proximity to regional processing plants at Marvel Loch and Edna May, providing potential nearby processing options if the inventory grows.
“Our focus now turns to assessing the potential for a maiden mineral resource at Dulcie Central.”
“These results complete our first drilling programme at Dulcie Central, where 20 of 24 holes intersected gold in an area not included in our existing 675,000 oz Mineral Resource.”
With the assay suite now complete, Zenith is preparing to apply for an extensive infill program. The plan under consideration is a substantial 850-hole RC campaign to reduce nominal drill spacing from 80m to a 40m by 40m pattern across the Dulcie Far North, Dulcie North, Dulcie Central, Scott’s Grey and Dulcie prospects, subject to regulatory and heritage approvals, contractor availability, funding and final operational planning.
Zenith also intends to undertake supplementary diamond drilling to improve the geological model and structural understanding, and to recover core for metallurgical testwork and future development studies.
The drilling success comes as Forrestania Resources has declared its one-for-4.3-cents scrip bid for Zenith unconditional after securing a controlling 61.42 per cent stake. Forrestania has said it intends to integrate Zenith’s gold assets into its WA hub-and-spoke strategy centred on Edna May and Lake Johnston.
Beyond Dulcie, Zenith’s asset base includes the Red Mountain gold project in Queensland, a 25 per cent free-carried interest in the Earaheedy zinc project in WA, an indirect 26 per cent stake in the Cowarra gold project in New South Wales, and the Split Rocks lithium project, which hosts an 11.9 million tonne inferred resource at 0.72 per cent lithium oxide.
