Aureka jags more visible gold with bonanza grades in Victoria
- Andrew Todd
- 1 hour ago
- 3 min read
Aureka Limited (ASX: AKA) has revealed a fresh set of bonanza-grade assays from a diamond drill program at its flagship Irvine gold project in Victoria’s Stawell corridor.
The strikes confirmed visible gold 70 metres below previously reported intercepts, running up to 85.8 grams per tonne (g/t), which the company says will likely add quick ounces to the project’s existing 304,000-ounce resource.
Standout hits included a 5.66-metre section running 6.13g/t gold from 489.3m, with a 0.4m slice coming in at a whopping 85.8g/t gold from 492m.
The results build on partial assays received earlier from the same hole, which included a 10-metre section running 12.1g/t gold from 413m, with peaks of up to 183g/t gold from its Tenacity hanging wall fault.
The fresh intercepts came from a newly identified formation called the Resolution footwall vein, which is a steeply southeast-dipping quartz structure laced with minor arsenopyrite and hosted in meta-sediments alongside basalt lenses.
Aureka says the hits appear to represent a strike extension running 135m south of mineralisation seen in earlier drilling, effectively stretching the gold-bearing structure into new ground. It has also highlighted untapped high-grade zones in the Resolution fault footwalls, where sulphide-rich quartz appears to be driving the bonanza grades.
Our geological understanding, has identified a new targeting opportunity for additional high-grade Foot Wall structures.
Aureka Ltd Exploration Manager Jozef Story
The company says its latest successes stem from its refined geological model, now showing a shallower 20-25 degree southerly plunge to its mineralised shoots, controlled by intersections between the Resolution fault and its Tenacity hanging wall fault.
Management noted its new footwall structures represent a fantastic immediate target for additional ounces, supported by some of the highest grades ever recorded at the project.
Aureka says more drilling is now underway to chase extensions along these faults, with infill work targeting zones south of the current resource for an upcoming ounce upgrade.
The successful intersection of additional high-grade mineralisation along the extrapolated Footwall vein, demonstrating approximately 135m of potential mineralisation strike length continuity between holes 47 and 48, and with further development of our geological understanding, has identified a new targeting opportunity for additional high-grade Foot Wall structures that are yet to be thoroughly assessed.
Aureka Limited Exploration Manager Jozef Story
Gold at Irvine occurs in sheared basalt and meta-sediments near the controlling Irvine Dome structure, mirroring setups in the region’s productive systems such as the 5.3-million-ounce Stawell gold mine just 16km north.
With quartz veins and sulphide zones boosting grades at the fault contacts, the program will continue probing the emerging mineralisation both along strike and at depth.
Aureka says its current step-out drilling is advancing, with the rig infilling key areas south of its Resolution deposits’ 304,000 ounces grading 2.43g/t gold to prepare for a resource update by year’s end.
The company’s exploration target of 280,000 to 420,000 ounces at 2–3g/t gold now appears increasingly reachable as its visible gold hits continue to flow.
Aureka also declared a maiden inferred JORC resource from historic drilling at its St Arnaud project in western Victoria earlier this year. The company says a fresh review of 120 historic holes from the previously mined Comstock open pit has transformed the picture, lifting its resource to 1.45 million tonnes at 1.2g/t gold. It means some 56,500 ounces are still sitting in the ground, giving the project a healthy second wind.
Adding the St Arnaud resource lifts Aureka’s global gold inventory in Victoria to 360,000 ounces.
With mineralisation open along strike and at depth and Aureka’s sharpened geological model identifying new high-grade areas at every turn, the results appear to be rapidly building serious in-ground ounces for the company.
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