Yandal Resources golden results during quarter lay foundation for aggressive follow-up

Yandal Resources Ltd (ASX:YRL) drilling during the March quarter delivered strong early high-grade gold results from several prospects within highly prospective projects in the Yandal and Norseman-Wiluna Greenstone Belts in Western Australia. These results lay the foundation for aggressive follow-up over the next 12-18 months. Four drill rigs are planned to be active throughout the remainder of 2021 to expand known mineralisation at depths below 300 metres and to test for new large systems in adjacent under-explored areas. Strong validation of the company’s progress and plans has come through DGO Gold Ltd (ASX: DGO) increasing its shareholding during the March quarter to 14.26%. Ironstone Well & Barwidgee projects The adjoining Ironstone Well and Barwidgee projects comprise 472 square kilometres of highly prospective greenstone sequences 60 kilometres southwest of the mining town of Wiluna and within close proximity to a number of operating gold mines and development projects Yandal has been focusing the majority of its activities on exploration and development at the Flushing Meadows prospect, where an initial mineral resource estimate of around 268,000 ounces of gold has been defined over a strike length of around two kilometres. The deposit occurs mostly within strongly oxidised and transitional material above 100 metres vertical depth and is closely related to the Barwidgee Shear Zone at the contact between mafic and felsic rocks. Currently, the company is compiling a feasibility study with a mining proposal and mine closure plan underway for the development of a conventional open-pit mining operation with road haulage to third-party processing facilities. Initial pit optimisation studies have shown potential to develop an economic mine, however, as the deposit is open at depth and the immediate surrounding area is considered under-explored, the company’s strategy is to expand resources to allow consideration of a larger development. A number of pre-development activities are planned to continue such as water monitoring, metallurgical assessment, environmental and heritage surveys, stakeholder engagement and mining tenement approvals. Finders Park, Quarter Moon and Oblique prospects Within Ironstone Well project, the company is targeting a mineralised trend extending over 20 kilometres northwest along strike from Flinders Park prospect. Yandal plans to implement a high-impact exploration strategy within the majority of the trend aimed to grow its resource base in proximity to the Flushing Meadows deposit. During the March quarter, 1-metre fire-assay results were returned from 11 angled reverse circulation (RC) holes for 927 metres at downhole depths between 60-120 metres that were completed at Flinders Park, Quarter Moon and Oblique prospects. At Flinders Park, two of the three holes returned shallow oxide mineralisation confirming the area as highly prospective and anomalous gold has been defined over a 1.6 kilometres strike length with recent and historic aircore drilling. The depth to primary rock is in excess of 110 metres in most areas and there have only been four reconnaissance RC holes completed to test for primary mineralisation at depth with final depths between 132-210 metres. This limited drilling was designed to expand mineralisation at Flinders Park and to confirm historic mineralisation at Oblique and Quarter Moon ahead of major expansion and discovery drilling programs during 2021. Some of the best results from Flinders Park, Quarter Moon and Oblique include: 4 metres at 4.39 g/t gold from 45 metres including 1-metre at 42.47 g/t from 52 metres; and 13 metres at 2.9 g/t from 36 metres including 1-metre at 21.05 g/t from 36 metres. Results at Sims Find A total of 39 angled reverse circulation holes for 2,458 metres at downhole depths between 18-102 metres were completed at Sims Find prospect in the Barwidgee project during the December quarter of 2020 with initial 4-metre composite samples reported in December 2020. The holes were designed to confirm and extend historic mineralisation in the vicinity of the historic Sims Find and Lady Lila shallow underground workings that were mined briefly in the 1930s.  Considerable mineralisation has been confirmed in multiple sub-parallel quartz veins, sulphides and shears within a large coarse-grained dolerite rock unit. Most holes returned significant mineralisation which is interpreted to dip shallowly toward the southwest, and strike in a northwest direction with best results of: 8 metres at 24.30 g/t from 9 metres including 1-metre at 129 g/t from 12 metres; and 3 metres at 120.85 g/t from 3 metres including 1-metre at 62.25 g/t from 30 metres. The company is at an advanced stage of reviewing the available geophysical, geochemical and geology datasets in light of the results and is preparing to conduct further exploration drilling t. Five RC holes were completed at the prospect during the March quarter after lengthy rain delays and all results are pending. Drilling at Mt McClure Project Yandal’s McClure Project is around 28 kilometres from the Bronzewing processing facility owned by Northern Star Resources Ltd (ASX:NST) via an existing haul road and it represents an opportunity to leverage off substantial historic drilling beneath and along strike from the Success, Parmelia and Challenger open pit mines. A total of 26 angled RC holes for 2,813 metres at downhole depths between 60-258 metres were completed in the December quarter of 2020 to confirm and extend known mineralisation. This program was successful and planning for follow-up drilling is well advanced for commencement in the current quarter. The company has completed three holes for 216 metres at HMS Sulphur and Parmelia Deeps prospects, and confirmed shallow mineralisation over a strike length of around 100 metres occurring within a 3-kilometre-long trend defined by historic reconnaissance RAB and aircore drilling. Best results include: 11 metres at 2/56 g/t gold from 73 metres including 1-metre at 12.24 g/t from 83 metres; and 2 metres at 4.81 g/t from 178 metres and 2 metres at 5.2 2g/t from 206 metres. Gordons Dam Project The Gordons Gold Project is around 36 kilometres northeast of Kalgoorlie-Boulder and 24 kilometres north along strike from the Kanowna Belle mining centre. During the quarter 200 aircore holes for 9,165 metres and 84 RC holes for 8,372 metres were completed at the Malone, Gordons Dam SE, Andrews, Brayshaw, Bradman, Holloways and Holloways South prospects to test early-stage gold targets beneath depleted surficial sediments. Final results were reported from diamond core sampling at Gordons Dam prospect in the December quarter and initial results were reported from the majority of the aircore drilling. A total of three angled diamond core holes for 943.80 metres were completed at Gordons Dam during the December quarter 2020 with results reported in January 2021. The holes were designed to provide new geological and structural data in order to improve the geological interpretation of the underlying mafic, intrusive porphyry and felsic volcanic rock sequence and the controls to the gold mineralisation discovered to date. Best results from Gordons Dam prospect include: 51 metres at 1.41 g/t from 35 metres including 1-metre at 52.81 g/t from 35 metres; and 4 metres at 6.65 g/t from 59 metres including 1.68 metres at 11.94 g/t from 60.32 metres. Corporate development During the quarter, the company enhanced its exploration credentials through the appointment of highly experienced exploration veteran Tim Kennedy as a non-executive director. Kennedy is a geologist with more than 35 years’ resources industry experience, including extensive involvement in the exploration, discovery and development of large-scale gold deposits in Western Australia. This appointment coincided with the resignation of Kelly Ross as a non-executive director of Yandal. Planned activities Key exploration and development activities planned during the current quarter include: Analysing expected sample results from RC drilling at Sims Find prospect and from the Gordons Dam and Star of Gordon prospects; Resume drilling at multiple prospects with up to four rigs. This includes high-impact RC drilling; Complete high-impact RC drilling at priority targets at the Mt McClure project; and Complete around 100,000 metres of drilling across all the company’s projects in 2021.