Moonlight Resources has put some serious numbers on the table at its Clermont gold project in central Queensland, defining a significant new exploration target of up to 662,000 ounces of near-surface gold.
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Resources → put → gold
The study has prompted the company to launch a 13,000-metre reverse circulation (RC) drilling program to test its ambitious new objective.
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study → prompt → objective
The exploration target covers three key prospects – Leo Grande, Goldfinger and Petersens.
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target → cover → prospects
It ranges between 16.2 and 19.8 million tonnes at grades of between 0.94 and 1.15 grams per tonne (g/t) gold, totalling 443,000 to 662,000 ounces of the yellow metal.
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It → range → metal
The company has emphasised that the exploration target is conceptual in nature and at this stage, requires more work to determine whether a gold resource can be identified and quantified in potentially economic terms.
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resource → emphasise → terms
The lion’s share of the target relates to the central Leo Grande prospect, which contributes between 281,000 and 420,000 ounces of gold.
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which → relate → gold
The Goldfinger and Petersens prospects add some higher-grade spice, with the southern Goldfinger prospect tipped to potentially contain between 95,000 and 142,000 ounces at a solid 1.2 to 1.5g/t gold.
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prospect → add → gold
The more northerly Petersons prospect offers the remaining potential - 67,000 to 100,000 ounces of gold at 1g/t to 1.22g/t.
Moonlight’s 13,000m RC drilling campaign is now underway, with the drill bit already probing Goldfinger’s potential.
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bit → offer → potential
The program will drill an estimated 5000m into the prospect, with a further 4000m allocated to Petersens and Leo Grande.
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m → drill → Petersens
‘We believe Clermont can develop into a significant gold project.’Moonlight Resources managing director Greg Starr
The Clermont project is centred 15 kilometres west of the historic Clermont township, in a hotspot with a strong history of gold mining, producing roughly 400,000 ounces since 1878.
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project → believe → 1878
The greater region is richly endowed and hosts several multi-million-ounce gold deposits, providing a compelling case for the region’s prospectivity.
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region → endow → prospectivity
Two notable nearby projects within the Drummond Basin - the extensive regional-scale geological complex that hosts Moonlight’s Clermont ground - include GBM Resources’ one-million-ounce Twin Hills gold resource north of Clermont and its 330,000-ounce Mount Coolon gold project northwest of Emerald and north of Clermont.
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that → host → Clermont
The Drummond Basin overall is a premier gold province credited with a total historical production and known endowment of up to 7.5 million ounces of gold.
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Basin → credit → gold
Moonlight’s exploration model rests on a solid foundation of historical work combined with its own recent successes.
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model → rest → successes
Earlier drilling by the company of an estimated 15,000m at Leo Grande returned a swag of broad, near-surface gold hits, including a notable 42m at 1.01g/t gold from surface and 40m at 1.31g/t gold from 76m.
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drilling → estimate → 76
Moonlight Resources managing director Greg Starr said: “This Exploration Target puts some significant numbers around exactly what excites us about Clermont – the combination of potential scale, gold mineralisation relatively close to surface and the opportunity to test extensions that remain open.
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that → manage → extensions
We’ve brought together the historical and recent drilling information at Leo Grande, Goldfinger and Petersens, which gives us a much clearer picture of the potential opportunity and where we intend to focus our efforts.”
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we → bring → efforts
While gold is Moonlight’s primary focus, its Clermont tenure also hosts the Peak Downs copper prospect, a few kilometres south of Clermont, which the company describes as a “high-grade copper sleeper opportunity”.
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company → host → opportunity
This is hardly surprising, given that the prospect was historically mined between 1862 and 1877, reportedly producing around 100,000 tonnes of ore at an eye-watering average grade estimated at 17 per cent copper.
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prospect → give → copper
Management is targeting near-term delivery of a maiden gold resource estimate for the Clermont gold project, which will initially incorporate its Leo Grande and Goldfinger deposits.
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which → target → deposits
Moonlight also says that it expects to deliver a much-anticipated initial copper resource estimate for the Peak Downs project before the end of the year.
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it → say → year
With a significant exploration target now up in lights on the board, Moonlight’s focus has shifted to the drill bit and with a hefty 13,000m drilling campaign already in full swing, the market may not have to wait long to find out if this geological model in a highly prospective region can be converted into real gold ounces.
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model → shift → ounces
Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting?
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company → list → something
The Aporia
