Crocodile takes a bite out of Tom’s Gully

Initial results from Crocodile Gold’s (CRK-T) Tom’s Gully drill program are in, and the market liked what it saw.

Highlights include intersections from three separate holes 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.

Crocodile says all intersections are approximate to true thickness.

In Toronto on November 25, the company’s shares were up 14% or 17¢ to $1.39 on over 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 the Northern Territory of Australia.

“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 Darwin and Crocodile is aiming to get the past producing mine back into production by the first quarter of next year.

The project currently has a probable mineral reserve 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 and inferred resource of 175,100 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, is a past producer that turned out 100,000 oz of gold at a grade of 9.4 grams gold from an open pit.

The pit went down to 100 metres, and once mined out a limited amount of underground mining was done. It 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 over 3,500 sq. km in the territory.
Besides Tom’s Gully, that package also includes the Burnside project and Maud Creek project, and combined the area contains 3 million oz. of measured and indicated resources from 40.9 million tonnes grading of 2.3 grams gold. The company has another 1.8 million oz. of inferred resources from 25.9 million tonnes grading 2.3 grams gold.