Record gold grades for Aureka at Victorian goldfields play
- Andrew Todd
- Oct 15
- 3 min read
Aureka Limited (ASX: AKA) has unveiled some exciting visible gold and cracking record high-grades at its flagship Irvine gold project in Victoria’s Stawell Corridor. Assays have returned up to a staggering 183g/t gold in diamond drilling, the highest grades since the project’s discovery in 2017.
The recent diamond assault on the company’s newly identified Tenacity Hanging wall fault has come up trumps, confirming visible gold and robust grades that to real potential to grow the existing 304,000-ounce resource at the project.
Partial assays have returned standout hits with one 10-metre section running an impressive 12.1 grams per tonne (g/t) gold from 413m also including 0.3m at a blistering 183g/t gold from 413m.
The results mark the highest individual grades ever reported at Irvine, beating previous highs of up to 55.7g/t.
Aureka says its visible gold in diamond core sits within a 1.1m-wide quartz vein along the newly tapped Tenacity hanging wall, with a strong sulphide association boosting grades into the surrounding rock.
Further partial assays turned up a 0.7m hit grading 13.9g/t gold from 345m and a 0.3m portion at 25.2g/t from 409m within another hole.
The hits indicate a second footwall mineralisation, hinting at untapped high-grade structures ripe for further drilling and resource growth.
The company says the results build on a refined geological model, with the Tenacity hanging wall fault now pegged as a key control alongside the previously targeted Resolution footwall fault.
More drilling is planned to chase high-grade ore shoots along the Tenacity and Resolution Faults, with full assays still pending.
“We are delighted to confirm that the recent visible gold intercepts are yielding exceptional gold grades at our flagship Irvine project and to report a significant 183g/t gold intercept - the highest gold drilling results returned at Irvine since discovery.” Aureka Ltd managing director James Gurry
Gold at Irvine occurs in sheared basalt and meta-sediments near the structurally significant Irvine Dome at the project.
The setup at Irvine mirrors the region’s high-grade systems including the 5.3-million-ounce Stawell gold mine just 16km north. With quartz veins and sulphide zones driving elevated grades at fault intersections, drilling will continue to target the promising structural positions.
Aureka says its current program is steaming ahead as the rig steps out south of the Resolution deposits’ 304,000 ounces at 2.43g/t to infill key zones for an upcoming resource upgrade by years end.
An exploration target of 280,000 to 420,000 ounces at 2–3g/t gold is looking more achievable with the latest results, confirming more grade and different mineralisation expansion with complexity at depth.
Historical drilling highlights at the deposit include hits like 18.7m at a solid 7.1g/t gold and 9.4m at 5.3g/t.
Aureka also revealed a maiden inferred JORC resource from historic drilling results at the company’s St Arnaud project in western Victoria, 90 kilometres west of the famous gold mining town of Bendigo earlier this year.
The company analysed the results from 120 historic drill holes plunged into the previously mined St Arnaud Comstock open pit, releasing its maiden resource of 1.45 million tonnes at 1.2 grams per tonne (g/t) of gold for 56,500 ounces.
The inclusion of the resource at St Arnaud kicked up Aureka’s total Victorian gold resources to a solid 360,000 ounces.
With mineralisation open along strike and at depth, Aureka’s team is honing its geological model to pinpoint richer zones. As the gold price soars past $6400 per ounce, the company’s latest results are adding value in the ground at a rate of knots.
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