North Stawell Minerals (ASX:NSM), an Australian-based gold exploration company focused on searching and evaluating prospective gold exploration and development projects in Australia, particularly its extensive portfolio in the Stawell Mineralised Corridor in Victoria, has announced that recent diamond drilling at its Darlington Project has extended a gold-bearing structure at depth. The Darlington Project is located approximately six kilometres north of the multi-million-ounce Stawell Gold Mine in Victoria, Australia.
The final hole from a recent drill program, NSD063, returned a narrow gold intercept of 0.5 metres at 1.16 grams per tonne gold from 129.6 metres, accompanied by strong arsenic results. This intercept is positioned 40 metres down-dip from a previously reported high-grade result of 0.4 metres at 17.1 g/t Au (NSD062) and 70 metres along strike to the north of another significant intercept of 2.3 metres at 29.18 g/t Au (NSD057). The hole intersected brecciated vein texture consistent with earlier findings, supporting the interpretation of a steep west-dipping vein-system.
Executive Director Bill Reid commented that hole NSD063 intersected the correct mineralised structure beneath prior high-grade intercepts. He noted that the results strengthen the geological, structural, and mineralisation similarities between Darlington and the historic high-grade Mariners Lodes at Stawell, which is a compelling exploration target for NSM. The structure remains open at depth, with a high-priority future drilling target identified where this structure intersects the deeper, drill-confirmed basalt.
NSM has also identified three other parallel mineralised structures at Darlington, all of which remain open along strike and at depth, including the historic Darlington Mine trend. The company continues to focus on Darlington due to these observed similarities to the multi-million-ounce deposit at Stawell, with its broader tenement portfolio holding further potential for similar discoveries.
