Mercator Gold (AIM: MCR), the gold producer with operations in the Meekatharra Goldfield in Western Australia announced a number of recent exploration successes.
Mercator's exploration is primarily targeting "relatively" shallow gold deposits that are amenable to open pit mining. There are eight targets at the moment, though the Company has three high priority targets, Batavia, Euro and Fenian West. Additional attention is also being devoted to Paddy's Flat which offers additional underground potential.
At the Euro prospect, a 40 hole reverse circulation programme has been completed. Drilling confirmed the continuity of the gold mineralisation between approximately 20 and 100 metres. Highlights included 12 metres at 2.9 grams per tonne from 97 metres, 5 metres at 6.1 grams per tonne from 97 metres and 18 metres at 3.2 grams per tonne from 99 metres. Mercator will now conduct an economic evaluation of the top 100 metres of oxide mineralisation, and there are plans in place to conduct further scout drilling south of Euro after several anomalies were identified by a recent gravity survey.
Further down the road, Mercator has started to receive drill results from the Batavia prospect. Results included an impressive 8 metres grading 20.2 grams per tonne from 86 metres, including 2 metres at 72.4 grams per tonne. Other intersects included 8 metres at 1.6 grams per tonne from 85 metres and 4 metres at 4.1 grams per tonne from 114 metres.
Along strike from the Prohibition deposit, drilling at Fenian West suggested "significant" continuity of mineralisation between to the two deposits, offering the possibility of Fenian West being exploited in the same time as the upper portion of Prohibition. Highlights included 7 metres at 4 grams per tonne from 58 metres and 7 metres at 3 grams per tonne at 72 metres.
Patrick Harford, MD, elaborated:
"The exploration component of Mercator's strategy to rejuvenate the Meekatharra Goldfield is continuing to pay off, with the results so far exceeding expectations. It is the view of the Company that the range of exploration targets detailed here offers outstanding potential, and in time we expect to benefit from new options for production as well as to bolster our reserve and resource numbers."