Barton Gold has returned some of its highest-grade assays to date from drilling at its Tunkillia gold project in South Australia, as work continues towards a mineral resource upgrade.
The latest results come from the southern end of Area 223, Tunkillia’s main deposit, where Barton is drilling inside the optimised open-pit boundary.
“We are pleased to confirm that Tunkillia continues to deliver broad, high-grade intersections in key areas,” Barton Gold managing director and chief executive officer Alexander Scanlon said.
“New assays from the southern Area 223 optimised open pit include some of the highest grade assays received to date in this zone.”
One hole returned 13m at 5.01 grams per tonne (g/t) gold from 55m depth, including 3m at 15.8g/t from 62m. Another returned 17m at 3.09g/t from 100m, including 1m at 36.9g/t from 108m.
The results form part of Barton’s expanded 40,000m Phase 2 reverse circulation (RC) drilling program. In southern Area 223, the latest holes are filling gaps in mineralisation already modelled across pit stages scheduled for the middle and later years of mining.
Earlier drilling focused on higher-value pit stages in central Area 223. Barton has also drilled at Area 51, about 5km northwest of the main deposit, where work has tested extensions to known mineralisation.
The drilling is feeding into a pre-feasibility study (PFS) being completed with GR Engineering Services. Barton is targeting the first quarter of 2027 for completion, allowing results from the expanded program and any resulting resource growth to be included.
“We look forward to completing our expanded ‘Phase 2’ upgrade drilling as quickly as possible, so that we can move on to Mineral Resources upgrades, the completion of our PFS and the submission of our Mining Lease application.”
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