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Doug Bright
Larvotto Resources has put fresh scale around its Midas lode at Hillgrove, unveiling an initial gold-equivalent exploration target of 3.95 million tonnes grading 5.16 grams per tonne (g/t) gold equivalent for 656,000 gold-equivalent ounces in a move that strengthens the project’s near-mine growth story.
Although the exploration target is conceptual rather than a mineral resource at this stage, it does give the market a clearer sense of what could be sitting just north along strike from the project’s Syndicate lode, where underground mining is already underway. Larvotto says Midas has now been drilled over more than 900 metres of strike and to 560m below surface, with the lode still open to the north and at depth.
The company’s preferred case falls within a broader exploration range of 223,000 ounces to 2.95 million ounces gold equivalent, based on current drilling, historical mine data, surface geochemistry and IP geophysics. Importantly, Midas lies adjacent to existing underground development, meaning it could be tested and potentially folded into mine planning more quickly than deeper targets elsewhere in the Hillgrove field.
That strategic appeal has been building for a while. In late April, Larvotto’s quarterly report highlighted earlier Midas drilling, which included 6m at 8.5g/t gold equivalent from 92m depth in one hole and flagged the broader Metz mining centre as a key growth corridor.
‘We have a clear line of sight to materially grow the Hillgrove mine life.’
Larvotto Resources managing director Ron Heeks
Then in early May, follow-up drilling at Midas returned 13m at 8.56g/t gold equivalent from 253m in another hole, including 1.2m at 34.53g/t gold equivalent, while also confirming the lode’s continuity and pointing to parallel upside at Coxes Reef.
Larvotto says Midas is interpreted as the northern extension of the historically mined Syndicate lode, which targeted antimony veins and produced more than 333,000 tonnes at two per cent antimony and 1.92g/t gold between 2014 and 2016. The company is planning 45 holes for 15,000m of drilling to work towards a maiden mineral resource at Midas, with further holes also aimed at the parallel Coxes Reef target.
The latest target sits inside Larvotto’s broader Hillgrove inventory, which totals a combined measured, indicated and inferred resource of 8.766 million tonnes grading 7.1g/t gold equivalent for 1.135 million ounces of gold and 96,000 tonnes of antimony. Tungsten is also reported as a by-product across the resource base.
Larvotto Resources managing director Ron Heeks said: “Midas Lode represents one of the most important near-term growth opportunities at Hillgrove and this initial Midas target is in addition to the existing significant Exploration Target of 670,000 to 1,080,000oz AuEq that sits largely below the current underground operations.”
Larvotto says resource growth remains a priority across its Hillgrove operation, with four diamond rigs operating across multiple mining centres including Metz and Clarks Gully.
Planning is also underway to accelerate drilling along strike and down-dip from surface and underground positions at Midas. Meanwhile, the company is preparing for a first-pass test of Coxes Reef and has received approvals to drill historical gold-antimony-tungsten workings at Curry’s Block.
With Hillgrove’s processing plant commissioning slated for August and preparations for full operations continuing to ramp up, Midas is shaping up as a potentially significant new resource opportunity as Larvotto edges closer to production. The company will be hoping the famous touch keeps turning up more than gold.
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