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soUtHeRn stAtes

Dart quick to turn projects around

ifficult terrain and com- of time before we see genuine
Dplicated regulations can external interest.”
make the Victorian explora- Outside funding for Granite
tion going slower than a damp Flat could suit Dart as it comes
track at Flemington, but as the to terms with funding four sep-
likes of Kirkland Lake Gold Inc arate project areas.
have shown, the payoff can “We have to get focused on
be substantial. one or two projects,” Chirnside
The potential prize is ex- admitted.
actly why Dart Mining Ltd Where the focus will eventu-
executive chairman James ally end up will depend on how
Chirnside is happy to commit much work Dart can complete
to Victoria, despite the delays in the remainder of this year.
the company has faced in re- The company’s Buckland
cent years. gold project was the stand-
Dart is active on four dif- out of 2020, with RAB drill-
ferent Victorian project areas ing at the Fairley’s prospect
and while the volume of re- delivering hits of 13m @ 4.82
sults in 2021 has not reflected g/t gold, 11m @ 2.64 g/t and
the effort, Chirnside is satis- 10m @ 2.27 g/t. Mineralisa-
fied reward is not far away. tion at Fairley’s remains open
“The quarter was all about along strike and at depth and
preparation for the next phase shares many of the charac-
of exploration,” Chirnside ex- teristics synonymous with the
plained of a mildly frustrating prolific Fosterville mine owned
March reporting period. “We by Kirkland Lake.
waited a long time for results, However, permitting chal-
but they are now coming back lenges on Buckland mean it
for all four projects and they will be the second half of 2021
are all fantastic; even the most before Dart can return to test
disappointing of the four were Fairley’s and other targets.
still very good.” In central Victoria, the
RAB drilling at the Gran- Rushworth gold project also
ite Flat prospect – 9km from Dart Mining has its foot on four project areas across Victoria boasting gold, returned intersections across
Mitta Mitta in north-east Victo- copper-gold and strategic minerals opportunities 600m of strike on the Phoenix-
ria – produce what Chirnside Chinaman’s Gully prospect,
described as “quite stunning results”. The With the new model in place, Dart com- including hits of 1m @ 10.8 g/t gold, 1m @
programme was highlighted by an intercept missioned a LiDAR geophysical survey to di- 9.13 g/t and 1m @ 7.1 g/t.
of 19m @ 9.39 g/t gold, 19.2 ppm silver and rect the next round of drilling at Granite Flat. “Rushworth is very interesting,” Chirnside
0.61% copper but also included 28m @ “We will try to match the geophysics with said. “We were positively surprised by the
0.35% copper (including 9m @ 0.73% cop- the geochemical signatures and expand results. It is a tricky deposit mainly because
per), 6m @ 1.38% copper, 20m @ 0.96 g/t the footprint at Granite Flat,” Chirnside said. of the nuggety effect so we need to ascertain
gold and 50m @ 0.12% copper. “From there we will start diamond and RC the best way to determine grade. It maybe
While the metal values themselves were drilling. The idea of diamond drilling is to put that we do a bulk sample but regardless we
encouraging enough, the Dart exploration some deeper holes in [to test the structure]. will head back there later this year.”
team were just as attracted to what they said For the RC, we want to mimic last year’s pro- On the Sandy Creek project, Dart will
about the overall potential of Granite Flat. gramme because we have unfinished busi- use the LiDAR survey to identify previously
“It had been assumed that Granite Flat ness there because so many of the holes unknown historical reef workings as well as
was lode-style gold-copper and massive sul- ended in mineralisation.” bedrock structural trends prior to another
phide mineralisation but in this programme With copper and gold prices strong and round of drilling.
we have identified silica sulphide breccias, exploration prospects light, larger compa- With a diamond drill rig secured outright,
disseminated chalcopyrite and chalcocite nies are desperate to find new Australian Chirnside expected Dart to get value for
within diorite and granodiorite, and narrow, copper-gold opportunities. money in exploration in 2021.
structurally controlled quartz vein-hosted Chirnside would not be drawn on specif- “We are training locals to operate that rig
mineralisation,” Chirnside said. ics but said there had been some inbound which is important because drilling Victoria
The changed thinking has Dart consider- interest. can be tricky,” he said. “In buying the dia-
ing applying a porphyry system exploration “There is a lot of people watching us,” he mond rig the cost of drilling for us goes down
model to the project. said. “There have been inbound calls, but no from $200/m to $60-70/m. That makes a
“There is enough evidence to suggest one has offered a deal, but we have certainly huge difference in a $1 million programme.”
this is porphyry mineralisation; it is extraor- seen interest from larger groups. We think – Dominic Piper
dinary,” Chirnside said. we can further strengthen our hand by do-
ing more work and I think it is only a matter

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