Hill End Gold (HEG) 12,000 metre drill program at historic Hargraves gold project
Media release 11 June 2009
A major drilling program of approximately 12,000 metres is planned to commence at the Hargraves gold project, which is located 35 kilometres north of Hill End in New South Wales.
The next stage of drilling on the Big Nugget Hill (BNH) structure will be approximately 6,000 metres of combined diamond and reverse circulation drilling to cover approximately 1,500 metres of strike length of the wide, mineralised BNH structure to the south of the previous program.
The BNH structure is over four kilometres in length, although only the central part of 1,500 metres strike has been mapped and partially drilled by Hill End Gold and previous explorers.
The target scope for the Hargraves project is over 10 million tonnes at 4$B!>(B5g/t gold.
This 6,000 metre program is designed to test the BNH structure over 500 metres of strike to a depth of 150 metres or more on 25 metre sections and scout drilling for a further 1,000 metres to the south on 100 metre sections. The close spaced drilling is beneath outcropping mineralisation and some high grade workings, such as the $B!F(BHill End$B!G(B shaft area.
Mining in the $B!F(BHill End$B!G(B shaft was suspended in 1915, although ore from the bottom 50 metre level was reported as containing fifteen ounces per tonne and in 1989 a two tonne bulk sample was mined from this same level with the material reported to contain more than five ounces per tonne, however previous explorers have not followed up with drilling beneath the workings.
- Hargraves is the site of Australia$B!G(Bs earliest gold reef mining in 1851, when large pieces of gold in quartz, containing up to 1,546 ounces, were discovered in quartz vein outcrops at Big Nugget Hill. Rich alluvial deposits were also mined adjacent to the BNH deposit and many large nuggets were found up to 2,800 ounces of gold.
For further information
Philip Bruce
Managing Director
Hill End Gold
0412 409 555
Doug Macdonald
0424 255 959
Capital Group
Level 5, 55 Harrington St
The Rocks Sydney 2000
02 9252 3900