X marks the spot for Pacgold's big bulls-eye gold target near Cairns
Pacgold says the latest anomaly at its White Lion prospect perfectly aligns with a previously identified 'bullseye' magnetic anomaly, with the increased target confidence inferring a potential major gold discovery.
The prospect is setting pulses racing as the company gears up to drill test its target for the first time in the December quarter this year.
White Lion sits just 500 metres south of the 30-kilometre-long Alice River fault zone. It has emerged as a priority target after an extended IP survey revealed a robust chargeability feature sitting atop a doughnut-shaped magnetic anomaly at 200m depth.
Spanning more than 1.5km by 1km, the anomaly is further spiced up by coincident resistivity lows, hinting at sulphide-rich or clay-altered zones akin to those that made Mt Leyshon a tier-one gold-hosting system.
A magnetic low southwest of the anomaly, potentially linked to magnetite-destructive phyllic alteration, only strengthens the comparison.
Surface mapping has already uncovered a 250m-long outcropping quartz breccia at White Lion, with historical shallow drilling from the 1980s confirming anomalous gold along its extent.
The heart of the magnetic anomaly remains untouched by the drill bit, leaving Pacgold with a tantalising untested target that's screaming for exploration.
The company's IP survey has also pinpointed multiple resistivity anomalies lining the Alice River fault zone, mirroring gold-bearing structures seen at Pacgold's Central, Southern and Posie prospects to the northwest.
Pacgold is wasting no time trying to capitalise on its breakthrough, with heritage clearances now underway to unlock drilling across the 1.5km by 1km target zone.
To sharpen its aim, the company is running pole-dipole IP surveys over the central White Lion area, with results due by late July to further refine drill targets.
Meanwhile, a broader regional IP program is mapping an 8km stretch of the fault zone, hunting for structural jogs and dilation zones that could host more gold systems like the company's 470,000 ounces of gold grading 1.0 grams per tonne (g/t) at Central.
The Alice River project sprawls across 377 square kilometres in the gold-rich North East Queensland province, which sits alongside multi-million-ounce monsters such as the Pajingo, Kidston and Ravenswood gold systems.
Management is eager to draw parallels between the project's 854,000-ounce intrusion related gold system and its potential to rival global heavyweights, such as Fort Knox in the United States and DeGrey Mining's 9.5-million-ounce Hemi discovery in Western Australia.
With only 5 per cent of the Alice River fault zone's mineralised strike tested to date, Pacgold is chasing a district-scale prize that could redefine its place - and share price - in the gold exploration game.
The company was recently backed by a chunky $5.6 million capital raise that included the likes of resources heavyweights such as Acorn Capital, Resource Capital Funds and resources broker Argonaut.
The raise will power a 10,000m reverse circulation drilling program across Central, Posie, Southern and other regional targets, such as Victoria and Jerry Dodds.
The White Lion will have to wait for now, but if the Mt Leyshon analogy holds, Pacgold could be on the cusp of uncovering a multi-million-ounce system that lights up the ASX and Queensland gold exploration to rival the insatiable WA market.
Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact:
matt.birney@wanews.com.au
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