High grades again near Father's Day-see article High grades again near Father’s Day
Josh Chiat
Wednesday, 23 January 2019 6:46PM
Mine geologist Lachlan Kenna, airleg miner Henry Dole, mine foreman Warren Edwards and senior mine geologist Zaf Thanos with the 90kg specimen. Picture: Kelsey Reid / Kalgoorlie Miner Canada’s RNC Minerals says it has struck grades of more than 7500g per tonne in a major drilling campaign in its bid to follow up a once-in-a-lifetime discovery at its Beta Hunt goldmine near Kambalda.
RNC made worldwide headlines after an airleg miner uncovered a “living room-sized” cut of rock containing an amazing 30,000 ounces of gold on Father’s Day last year, dubbed the Father’s Day Vein.
It included two enormous specimens ranked among the biggest gold stones ever discovered, considered so rare they required clear-ance from a Federal Govern-ment department to be toured overseas.
RNC has since committed to a 40,000m drilling campaign targeting the layer of sediment near where the Father’s Day Vein was found.
It has received early promise from exploration both near the discovery and in its Western Flanks zone, where the 0.27m intersection grading 7621g/t was located in a broader strike containing 2m of gold at 1017.3g/t, 45m from existing workings.
Another hole in the A Zone target, 7m below the Father’s Day Vein discovery, returned a hit of 6.4m at 119.37g/t, grading as high as 1406g/t.
RNC chief executive Mark Selby said the drilling showed there remained potential at Beta Hunt for more high-grade finds, hailing the Western Flanks intersection as one of the best gold strikes in the past two years.
Beta Hunt’s rejuvenation was one of the biggest turnaround stories in WA mining last year, with the operation struggling and RNC deep into a now-junked attempt to sell the mine when the Father’s Day Vein find was made in September.
The find seemingly confirmed rumours from decades past that the project, mined for nickel since 1973 and only converted into a goldmine in recent years, had been known to cough up gold specimens.