Horizon Gold has delivered its strongest drilling result to date from the Snook prospect at its Gum Creek project in Western Australia. Reverse circulation drilling returned 44 metres at 5.08 grams per tonne gold from 145 metres, including 11 metres at 16.30 grams per tonne from 174 metres. A second intersection in the same hole returned 14 metres at 4.12 grams per tonne from 204 metres, including 3 metres at 15.33 grams per tonne.
The 25-hole, 5,151 metre program was the deepest drilling completed at Snook and confirmed mineralisation about 230 metres below surface. Other results included 14 metres at 5.18 grams per tonne from 88 metres and 12 metres at 5.72 grams per tonne from 135 metres. Snook currently hosts a resource of 920,000 tonnes at 1.82 grams per tonne for 54,000 ounces across about 550 metres of strike. Reported widths are downhole, with true widths estimated at about 71 percent at Snook.
Managing director Scott Williamson said the results point to a larger open pit and potential underground mining beneath the historical Snook North and Snook South pits. Follow-up drilling is already under way.
The wider Gum Creek picture matters for scale. The project hosts 2.30 million ounces, and a recent open pit definitive feasibility study outlined a 10-year operation averaging 88,000 ounces a year from a 2.4 million tonne per year plant. Nearby Cobia, about 1 km north of Snook, returned 21 metres at 2.08 grams per tonne from 76 metres, with a maiden resource planned, and Alma May returned shallow hits including 5 metres at 2.79 grams per tonne from 26 metres, also headed for a maiden resource.