There are Fortunes to be Made in the Pilbara’s Latest Gold Rush
The remote Pilbara region in Western Australia is experiencing a boom in gold mining exploration and development, writes Colin Sandell-Hay
Colin Sandell-Hay by Colin Sandell-Hay
March 2, 2021
in Feature Story
There are Fortunes to be Made in the Pilbara’s Latest Gold Rush
One of the richest mineralized areas in the world, the vast Pilbara region of Western Australia has been host to a number of gold rushes since the precious metal was first discovered at Whim Creek in 1887.
Just over 130 years later, the newest – and possibly biggest – gold rush in the remote area’s history is now underway.
Fuelled by De Grey Mining’s (ASX: DEG) world class Hemi gold discovery, the Pilbara is now drawing in gold explorers from all over the globe looking to grab their piece of the golden action.
Location of Mallina Gold Project, existing 2.2Moz resource areas and new Hemi discovery Location of Mallina Gold Project, existing 2.2Moz resource areas and new Hemi discovery (De Grey Mining press release, 5 June 2020)
Remarkably, Hemi is around 50km from the original Whim Creek gold rush discovery, which is staggering considering the Pilbara region measures almost 508,000 sq. km.
When De Grey announced in December 2019 that it had made what is now considered one of the most exciting Australian gold discoveries in decades, it set in motion a tidal wave of actions.
For De Grey, it triggered a spectacular leap in its share price and thrust the junior mining firmly into the global spotlight.
At the time of the original find, the company’s share price was trading at around A$0.05 and went on to reach as high as A$1.55 in September 2020, before settling back to its current price of around A$0.89.
While many businesses suffered and went into a waiting mode during COVID-19 lockdown restrictions, De Grey was not sitting on its laurels, implementing an aggressive drill campaign aimed at assessing just what it had uncovered.
Thanks to De Grey’s progressive and methodical approach and the rich geology, Hemi just continues to grow.
With multiple rigs in action, the company is successfully uncovering new gold zones and extending the known gold mineralization outwards and downwards.
In recent weeks, De Grey has reported that Hemi continues to expand across multiple zones.
Overall, the Hemi system is now more than 3,500m north-south and 3,500m east-west, over 400m deep, and remains open along strike and at depth.
A newly discovered Falcon zone has added to the picture, with mineralization encountered in RC and diamond drilling over 1,000m of strike and to 300m below surface and remains open along strike and at depth.
The company is also currently undertaking a comprehensive and successful metallurgical test work programme across each of the mineralized zones at Hemi (Brolga, Aquila, Crow, and Falcon).
Meanwhile, for the Pilbara, the discovery has instigated the region’s next great gold rush and De Grey’s neighbours have suddenly found the door has opened for their own share prices to take off and to accelerate any exploration plans they had for their Pilbara properties.
The following is an overview of some of the Pilbara gold hunters, in alphabetical order, which are benefitting from their “nearology” to the Hemi discovery.
Castle Minerals (ASX: CDT) is fast-tracking its work on the Beasley Creek project, which is located to the south of Hemi. In the wake of the Hemi discovery, Castle has conducted a further review of the project’s bedrock geology and identified a selection of additional gold targets ranging from Hemi-style, sheared granite-greenstone contacts through to Northern Star’s Paulsen gold mine-style intrusive mafic mineralization.
CZR Resources (ASX: CZR): While CZR’s main focus is on its exciting Pilbara iron ore development, the company has wasted no time in taking a closer look at its Croydon Gold Project, which is located in the same Mallina Basin as Hemi. Croydon covers approximately 40km strike of the key regional structures of the major regional shear zone about 50km south-east of Hemi.