Mawson Gold rises on high-grade intersection at Sunday Creek in Australia  

Mawson Gold’s (TSX: MAW) shares rose by more than 50% on May 30 after its 60.3% owned subsidiary Southern Cross Gold (ASX: SXG) reported a high-grade drill result from its Sunday Creek project in Victoria, Australia.  

Highlights from drill hole SDDSC033 included 5.2 metres grading 14.7 grams gold per tonne starting from 189.9 metres; 5.1 metres grading 17.7 grams gold starting from 160.5 metres; 2.3 metres grading 26.2 grams gold starting from 184 metres; and 2.5 metres grading 5.8 grams gold starting from 151 metres.  

The project saw historic gold mining between 1880 to 1920 over an 11-km trend that produced 41,000 oz. gold at a grade of 33 grams gold per tonne. Drilling during the 1990s and 2000s focused on shallow, previously mined surface workings up to 80 metres in depth, because of which “the entire field remains open along strike and to depth,” said Mawson. 

Mawson acquired Southern Cross Gold as a 100%-owned private company in July 2021. Southern Cross started trading on the Australian Securities Exchange earlier this month.  

“This result is unprecedented in terms of width of high-grade mineralization rarely, if ever, seen in the Victorian goldfields,” Michael Hudson, Southern Cross Gold’s managing director, said in a press release.  

“Continuity, with great width and grades, is now evident down to 335 metres vertical depth in the Apollo Shoot that remains open to depth, while multiple adjacent shoots remain to be drilled out,” he added.  

Located about 60 km north of Melbourne, the project covers about 170 sq. km. In the last three months, Southern Gold has drilled ten holes covering 2,278 metres with one hole in progress. While results from seven holes have been reported, three are yet to be released.  

Highlights from the project’s six diamond drill holes reported on May 25 included 1.4 metres grading 10.9 grams gold per tonne starting from 222.7 metres in drill hole SDDSC031 and 0.3 metre grading 81.2 grams gold starting from 61.5 metres in hole SDDSC032.  

On the results from hole SDDSC033, Mawson CEO Ivan Fairhall described the Sunday Creek project as a “standout” property in the region in terms of width and grade.  

“We’ve known for some time there are multiple zones of high grades, but the the continuity that is developing over a large distance here is a very exciting development,” Fairhall told The Northern Miner. 

“We see publishing a resource as being an important milestone, but with the kitty full, Southern Gold is in the fortunate position to be able to take the time to fully process this development with regards to the best way to move Sunday Creek forward,” Fairhall added. 

Aside from the Sunday Creek project, Mawson is focused on developing its flagship Rajapalot gold-cobalt project in Finland and upgrade its inferred resources of 10.9 million tonnes grading 2.5 grams gold per tonne and 443 parts per million (ppm) cobalt for 887,000 tonnes of gold and 4,836 tonnes of cobalt.

According to Fairhall, the company is focused on delivering a preliminary economic assessment and plan the next stages of exploration in Finland this year. 

At noon, shares of Mawson Gold were trading at 20.5¢, up 7¢ or 51.8%, within a 52-week trading range of 9.5¢ and 29¢. The company has 293.5 million common shares outstanding.