Marmota (ASX: MEU) has announced a substantial boost in gold grades at its Aurora Tank project in South Australia, with new test work showing increases of up to 73%. The results come after the company intersected thick intervals of high-grade gold in the southern part of the project during its late 2024 drilling program, including a 1-meter section that yielded an impressive 50 grams per tonne (g/t) of gold.
To further assess the gold potential, Marmota collected around 23.41 kg of samples from the site, which were then subdivided into five 2kg portions for Bulk Leach Extractable Gold (BLEG) testing. This method, which is known for its high precision, returned significantly higher grades across all five samples, with three assays exceeding 90 g/t.
Reassurance Through Rigorous Testing
Dr. Colin Rose, Marmota’s Chair, highlighted the importance of the company’s decision to re-test the highest-grade 50 g/t sample from November 2024’s drilling. “Some companies that are fortunate enough to encounter such high grades may be hesitant to retest, especially when there’s a chance the high grade could be a result of the ‘nugget effect,'” Rose explained. The nugget effect refers to the irregular distribution of gold, often occurring in coarse clusters, which can result in highly variable assay results.
Marmota opted to take a more methodical approach by subdividing the entire sample bag into five separate portions for testing, providing further verification of the high-grade gold present at Aurora Tank.
Building Confidence for Resource Modelling
The decision to use BLEG testing, though more expensive than traditional methods, underscores Marmota’s commitment to confirming the accuracy of its resource estimates ahead of the upcoming resource modelling process. BLEG’s ability to minimize the impact of nugget effects makes it a valuable tool for ensuring the reliability of gold grades, particularly when moving toward resource estimation.
As of now, Marmota has not conducted further BLEG tests on other holes from the 2024 Aurora Tank drilling campaign, but the successful results from the initial samples provide a solid foundation for future exploration and resource estimation.
This confirmation of high-grade gold at Aurora Tank marks an exciting development for Marmota as it progresses with its exploration and resource development plans.
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