Crocodile Takes A Bite Of Tom’s Gully

Initial results are in from Crocodile Gold’s (CRK-T) Tom’s Gully drill program, and on the news, the market signalled its faith in the company’s plan to breathe new life into the past-producer.

Highlights from the program include intersections of 27.2 grams gold over 1.8 metres; 12.1 grams gold over 2.2 metres; and 6.9 grams gold over 13.2 metres.

Each of the highlight intercepts came from three separate holes and reported intersections are approximate to true widths.

On the results, Crocodile shares climbed 14% or 17¢ to $1.39 on more than 2 million shares traded.

The current US$8.4-million exploration program calls for a total of 2,700 metres of surface diamond drilling at the former mine in Australia’s Northern Territory.

“The next phase of drilling at Tom’s Gully will focus on additional infill drilling in the higher-grade areas at depth with the goal of deepening the decline to accelerate development of this area,” Crocodile’s president and chief executive Mike Hoffman said in a statement.

Tom’s Gully sits 100 km southeast of Darwin and Crocodile is aiming to get the former mine back into production by the first quarter of next year.

The project currently hosts probable reserves of 370,000 tonnes grading 8.3 grams gold for 99,000 oz. It has indicated resources of 496,900 tonnes grading 11 grams gold for 175,100 oz., plus 175,100 inferred tonnes grading 11.4 grams gold for another 67,500 oz. of gold.

The company says its most recent results show it will likely be able to upgrade resources and potentially increase reserves, as grades were better than some of the higher historic grades at the site.

Tom’s Gully, which is wholly owned by Crocodile Gold, had historical production of 100,000 oz. gold at a grade of 9.4 grams gold from an open pit.

The pit went down to 100 metres, and once it was mined out, there was also a limited amount of underground mining.

Crocodile describes the geology at the project as predictable and stratigraphic and says there is potential to extend mineralization at depth.

It is currently drilling to see if there are mineralized structures beneath and parallel to the currently known structures.

In total, Crocodile has mining claims that cover more than 3,500 sq. km in the territory.

Besides Tom’s Gully, that package also includes the Burnside and Maud Creek projects. Combined, the area contains 3 million oz. of measured and indicated resources contained in 40.9 million tonnes grading 2.3 grams gold. The company has another 1.8 million inferred oz. in 25.9 million tonnes grading 2.3 grams gold.