Key Highlights

  • The six-hole RC programme covers roughly 700 metres on a southern drill line at Rockland.
  • Rockland sits on a granted Mining Lease that is 100 per cent owned by Dundas.
  • The follow-up drilling targets gold shoots that remain open down dip.
  • Managing director Jonathan Downes described the programme as the next step in resource definition at Rockland.

Dundas Minerals (ASX:DUN) has started a follow-up Reverse Circulation Drilling programme at its Rockland Gold Project, about 40 kilometres north of Kalgoorlie in Western Australia. The company plans around six holes for approximately 700 metres on a southern drill line, with Nexgen Drilling engaged as the contractor.

Managing director Jonathan Downes described the programme as "the next step in resource definition at Rockland".

What earlier holes found

The new drilling follows results from a recent programme in which, according to the company, seven of eight holes intersected gold. Among the better results, hole 26RKRC005 returned 3 metres at 6.94 grams per tonne gold from 138 metres, including 1 metre at 20.35 g/t from 140 metres. Hole 26RKRC011 returned 12 metres at 1.25 g/t gold from 168 metres, together with a higher-grade interval reported within the hole.

The intervals were not described as true widths and should be read as downhole lengths. Dundas said the mineralisation forms east-dipping shoots that remain open down dip, meaning drilling has not yet found where they end at depth along their angle of inclination. Testing that continuation, and the geometry of the shoots, is the purpose of the southern drill line.

Why the follow-up matters

In many Western Australian goldfields deposits, gold is concentrated in plunging shoots rather than spread evenly through a host rock. Defining the orientation of those shoots early can help an explorer place later holes efficiently and avoid wasted metres. A high strike rate, such as seven of eight holes hitting gold, suggests the company is drilling in the right structural setting, but it does not on its own establish grade continuity or tonnage.

Rockland sits on a granted mining lease and is 100 per cent owned by Dundas, according to the company. A granted mining lease can shorten the path to development compared with ground held only under exploration licences, although any mine would still require further approvals, studies and funding. The project's location in the Kalgoorlie district also places it within an established gold region with existing infrastructure.

Limitations

Rockland is at an early exploration stage. The reported intercepts are narrow to moderate in width, and the most encouraging result is a short high-grade interval of 1 metre. Results from a programme of about six holes will add data points but are unlikely, on their own, to support a resource estimate. It is also possible that the shoots weaken or are offset at depth. Gold prices, drilling costs and the availability of funding for follow-up programmes will also influence how quickly the company can advance the project.

Next steps

Dundas said assays are still pending from drilling at its Capricorn and Baden-Powell areas, so further results could be released separately from the new Rockland holes. Assays from the southern drill line will follow once samples have been processed by the laboratory, with timing typically dependent on laboratory turnaround times.

Those results will show whether the east-dipping shoots continue with consistent grade down dip. If they do, the company would be in a position to plan additional drilling towards the resource definition goal described by its managing director; if not, the targeting model may need to be refined.