Southern Gold adopts innovative methods as it advances exploration on seven project areas in South Korea

Southern Gold Ltd (ASX:SAU) is managing a combination of drilling, prospect mapping and sampling, geophysical surveying and soil sampling activities as it continues to advance seven different project areas in South Korea. The current drilling program is targeting new ‘greenfield’ epithermal vein systems that have never been drilled before at the Dokcheon Project. Another first for Southern Gold is the start of a drone-based magnetic survey at Aphae Project. The Korean team has also completed orientation soil sampling programs across several projects to calibrate this exploration technique and for ongoing work scheduled for next year. "Pioneering exploration work" Managing director Simon Mitchell said: “We are excited about the drill program at the new greenfield target area of Dokcheon and I really look forward to the results from here and at Weolyu over the coming months. “Southern Gold is pioneering exploration in South Korea with the Aphae drone magnetic survey, as relatively detailed magnetic data is usually the first data you have in more advanced exploration jurisdictions such as Australia. “Our local South Korean geological team has also made great progress recently with the project field reconnaissance and this will set us in good stead for our drill target base next year.” The drill plan involves three holes for a designed 540 metres to test a 100-metre strike section along with a deeper fourth hole – the first hole has been completed and the second has begun. High level of field activity  Mitchell continued: “There are a lot of 'firsts' in this update and a high level of field activity across a lot of projects as we close out the calendar year. “As we move into winter, we will move the drilling and field activities to the coastal regions where the weather is more benign and look to restart in the mountain districts in early spring next year. “This approach maintains exploration momentum and ensures there is news flow early next year.” Survey to formulate second phase of drilling  The company is using industry-standard survey gear owned by KIGAM (Korean Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources) and the data will be processed by Southern Geoscience Consultants. The survey will be flown at 50-metre spacing, with continuous readings obtained from a high-quality MagArrow magnetometer and should be able to map any continuation and trends of the demagnetised zone, which will inform the second round drilling. As far as Southern Gold is aware, this is the first time that a company has flown an aeromagnetic survey with a resolution less than 1-kilometre line spacing, for mineral exploration applications in the country. The Dockcheon program is expected to be completed by mid-December and after the results of the drone magnetic survey are assessed the drill rig will mve to the Aphae Project for a second follow-up drill program.