Key Highlights

  • Diamond hole 26HRCDD179 intersected 1.1 metres at 89.64 grams per tonne gold from 308.7 metres at HHH.
  • The interval includes 0.2 metres at 398.0 g/t.
  • The Ritz resource totals 351,000 ounces at 3.1 g/t across Paris, HHH and Observation.
  • The reported intervals are downhole, and true widths are not stated.

Torque Metals (ASX:TOR) has reported further assays from its wholly owned Ritz gold project in the South Kalgoorlie region of Western Australia. The most striking result came from the HHH deposit, where diamond hole 26HRCDD179 intersected 1.1 metres at 89.64 grams per tonne gold from 308.7 metres, including 0.2 metres at 398.0 g/t.

A second hole, 26HRC215, returned 4.0 metres at 9.74 g/t from 378 metres. Torque says this is the deepest intercept at HHH so far and sits more than 80 metres down-plunge of hole 26HRCDD151, which previously returned 8.9 metres at 17.50 g/t.

Both new intercepts lie outside the current HHH Mineral Resource Estimate of 1.15 million tonnes at 2.0 g/t for 73,000 ounces.

Reading the results with care

The headline grade is exceptional, but it comes from a narrow interval, and the 398 g/t sample is only 20 centimetres long. Results like this confirm the presence of high-grade gold but do not by themselves establish tonnage. The the announcement reports downhole lengths; true widths were not stated.

Hole 26HRCDD179 sits about 50 metres up-plunge of 26HRCDD151 and about 50 metres down-plunge of 26HDD005, which returned 1.0 metre at 20.90 g/t. The company says that together these define a continuous high-grade shoot extending over more than 100 metres. Further drilling around and below the intercepts is planned to build confidence for the next HHH resource update.

The Paris comparison

Managing director Craig Jones said step-out drilling had intersected exceptional grades outside the resource and reinforced confidence in the continuity and potential scale of the main west-plunging shoot.

Torque also points out that HHH resembles the 253,000-ounce Paris deposit, about one kilometre to the south. Both feature west-plunging lodes at the contact between mafic volcanic and ultramafic rocks. The comparison provides a reference point, but HHH remains far smaller and its eventual size will depend on drilling yet to be done.

Electromagnetic targeting

Downhole electromagnetic surveys, known as DHEM, detect conductive zones around drill holes, which are modelled as plates. Torque reports a strong correlation between these plates and high-grade gold at Ritz. Because 26HRC215 landed outside the nearest plate, new DHEM surveys at HHH and Observation will test whether the conductive signature continues further down-plunge.

Elsewhere at Ritz

At Paris, hole 26PRC295 returned 12.0 metres at 2.20 g/t from 47 metres, including 2.0 metres at 8.45 g/t, within the Inferred part of the resource; Torque sees potential to upgrade that material with infill drilling. Hole 26PRC310 returned 1.0 metre at 8.40 g/t outside any resource, on a line testing a possible link between HHH and Paris.

At the Koolie prospect, first-pass regional drilling returned 2.0 metres at 12.17 g/t from 31 metres in a quartz vein within ultramafic rock. Historical drilling there averaged only 40 to 50 metres in depth, and the mineralised envelope currently extends about 250 metres along strike.

At Maynards Dam, previously reported hole 26MDRC002 returned 2.0 metres at 2.75 g/t from 62 metres, about 25 metres north of a 1991 historical intercept of 4.0 metres at 21.2 g/t from 22 metres. Torque notes that many nearby St Ives deposits owned by Gold Fields are hosted by mineralised shears in ultramafic rock, although proximity does not guarantee similar results.

Funding and next steps

The Ritz resource totals 351,000 ounces at 3.1 g/t across Paris, HHH and Observation. Torque recently completed a A$25 million Capital raising to accelerate drilling and plans to add a third rig to the two currently operating.

Next steps include more drilling at HHH, DHEM surveys, airborne geophysics over the Paris and Strauss corridors this quarter, and follow-up at Koolie and Maynards Dam. The key question is whether the high-grade shoot carries enough width to add meaningful ounces.