TNM Drill Down: Reunion Gold’s Oko West in Guyana tops week’s gold assays

Our TNM Drill Down features highlights of the top gold assays of the past week. Drill holes are ranked by gold grade x width, as identified by our sister company Mining Intelligence.

The top gold assays for the week Apr. 14-21 come from the Americas and Australia. Reunion Gold (TSXV: RGD) leads the rankings with its Oko West project in Guyana. On Apr. 17, the Longueuil, Que.-based company reported that hole OKWD23-243 returned 109.7 metres grading 5.59 grams gold per tonne from 433.3 metres depth for a grade x width value of 613. The high-grade mineralization in that and other holes drilled in the Kairuni zone at Oko West, cut higher-grade, structurally controlled mineralized shoots within Block 4. 

The results are among those from 25 diamond drill holes at Kairuni, an area in the northern part of Oko West that remains open along its 2.5-km strike length and at depth. Drilling there is part of a larger, 30,000-metre program that began at the start of 2023, and is expected to wrap up in May. The program is aimed at supporting an initial resource by mid-year, with a preliminary economic assessment planned for the end of 2023.

The second best assay of the week came from Greatland Gold’s (LSE: GGP) Ramses target, located 20 km southeast of the company’s flagship Havieron gold-copper project in north-central Western Australia. On Apr. 20, Greatland reported that diamond drill hole RAD002, cut 18.3 metres grading 22 grams gold from 924 metres depth, for a grade x width value of 402. That hole was drilled as part of its 2022 initial drill program at Ramses. Mineralization is open at depth, though the hole ended because of drilling limitations. Further structural and geochemical analysis, as well as a future downhole electromagnetic survey are needed to refine the potential for mineralization extending into shallower areas at Rudall. “While recognising the high-grade intercept is at depth, the strong gold mineralization and supporting pathfinder geochemistry in consistently altered and veined basement sediments continues to highlight the outstanding prospectivity within Greatland’s tenement package and the Paterson Province in general,” said managing director Shaun Day. Greatland received a A$200,000 ($180,920) grant from the West Australian government’s Exploration Incentive Scheme last May to co-fund its exploration program at Rudall.

The third best drill assay of the week came from Carlyle Commodities’ (CSE: CCC) Newton project in central British Columbia, about 100 km west of Williams Lake. On Apr. 18, the company said that hole N23-091 cut 613.9 metres grading 0.53 gram gold from 18.1 metres for a grade x width value of 325. That hole, which went down 764 metres, has confirmed continuity of the well-mineralized main felsic volcanic domain, and that the main felsic zone extends to the west. It remains open at depth and in several directions. N23-091 was also the third and final hole in its first phase, 14-hole program aimed at increasing the current resource. The diamond-drill program confirmed Newton hosts possibilities for expanding the inferred resource into untested zones. Carlyle is preparing plans for follow-up drilling to test those zones. Newton is a low to intermediate-sulphidation epithermal gold deposit that saw almost 35,000 metres of drilling between 2009 and 2012. It hosts 861,400 oz. gold in 42.3 million inferred tonnes grading 0.63 gram gold per tonne, according to a resource estimate published last June.