Golden Cross Resources has been advised by the NSW Department of Industry, Division of Resources and Energy, that it is one of a total of fifteen Preferred Applicants for Round Two of the state’s New Frontiers Co-operative Drilling Program.
This $2 million co-funded NSW Government initiative provides financial support for direct drilling costs, capped at $200,000 for individual projects.
Golden Cross was offered a A$100,000 grant to co-fund the drilling costs at the Cargo Project, which is situated 12km west of the Cadia valley gold-copper mining operations of Newcrest Ltd.
The company believes the project is prospective for near-surface gold resources on the 14 known quartz-sulphide lode systems.
“Drilling of the central porphyry in 2008 returned low-grade copper intercepts to a depth of approximately 300 metres, and in 2016 a conceptual deep target was developed by consultants Corbett Menzies Cunliffe Pty Ltd based on detailed mineralogical logging of drillcore and modelling which indicated vectors to a deeper mineralised intrusive,” Golden Cross said in a statement.
According to the company, the Cargo Exploration Licence has been renewed to 2019, facilitating planning and evaluation on two fronts including:
- Drilling and estimation of shallow gold mineralisation in near surface lode systems, evidenced by reported resources and historical shallow mining activity
- Drilling of the deeper related porphyry copper-gold-molybdenum mineralisation conceptual target, to be partially funded by the Co-operative Drilling Grant, with completion required by 30 June 2017.