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Auzex targeting 500,000 oz gold
6 September 2010 - Auzex Resources Ltd hopes to carry out a six hole drilling programme this summer at its Lyell gold project, which lies in the northern extension of the mesothermal Reefton goldfield.
Sources: Bathurst Resources and Lindsay Clark
Auzex’s drilling programme will test the gold-arsenic soil geochemical anomaly at Lyell, which extends over a length of 3000 m with a width of 200 m. The drilling programme has been approved by the Department of Conservation.
The project is just north of the Buller River, and is located within haulage distance of the existing Reefton gold mining and processing facility, which is owned by OceanaGold. The highly prospective ground incorporates the site of the Alpine United gold mine, some 50 km east of Westport that produced 95,000 oz of gold in the first half of the 20th century from underground mining.
Gold bearing quartz lodes have been worked at Lyell over a strike length of 5 km. Despite the extent of the old workings, no modern exploration has been conducted at the project. Dr Greg Partington, director of operations for Auzex, said that although exploration is at an early stage, a resource of at least 500,000 oz of gold is needed for the Lyell project. Open cut mining above the underground workings at Lyell would have the “potential to add significant capacity” to the nearby process plant, Auzex said.
Auzex NZ has a 58% stake in the Lyell Gold Project with its minority partner New Zealand Minerals Ltd. Auzex recently raised AUD $4 million in funding for exploration.
