Great Pacific Gold has confirmed continuity of a large magmatic-hydrothermal system at its Kasie Ridge target in East New Britain Province, Papua New Guinea, with maiden drilling identifying gold-bearing structures and mineralisation that remains open at depth.
The company said two diamond drill holes, drilled about 315 metres apart, intersected correlated silica-rich and advanced argillic alteration within the Wild Dog Project's largest preserved alteration system.
The programme comprised KAS-01A, drilled to 595.7 metres, and KAS-02, drilled to 346.6 metres, delivering 942.3 metres of core. KAS-01A ended in the strongest sulphide-rich alteration encountered during the programme, leaving the system open below the hole.
Gold-bearing structures
Gold was identified in both holes, with the strongest results from KAS-02.
Eight individual samples from two structurally controlled zones returned grades of 0.20 grams per tonne gold or higher. The first zone, between 141 and 166 metres, returned five samples ranging from 0.20 g/t to 1.55 g/t gold, including the 1.55 g/t result at 151.7 metres.
A second zone between 231 and 256 metres returned individual samples of 0.47 g/t, 0.31 g/t and 1.25 g/t gold.
Great Pacific Gold cautioned that the reported values are individual point samples rather than composite intervals, and true widths have not been established. The company said the results are being used to characterise metal distribution and guide further exploration.
KAS-01A returned a maximum individual gold value of 0.11 g/t at 572.3 metres, while silver values reached 22.4 g/t within a broad silver halo extending from about 263 to 402 metres. Copper was uniformly low, with a maximum of 0.09%.
Deepening mineralisation system
The drilling also identified a vertically zoned alteration sequence, moving from propylitic rocks through a pyrite-rich phyllic transition into massive chalcedonic silica and deeper advanced argillic and phyllic alteration.
In KAS-01A, pyrite intensified through the deepest 130 metres, while hypogene anhydrite and visible chalcopyrite appeared below about 480 metres. The hole ended at 595.7 metres in sulphide-bearing alteration.
The company said quantitative X-ray diffraction analysis of 105 samples identified minerals including alunite, pyrophyllite, zunyite, diaspore, topaz and andalusite, which it interprets as consistent with highly acidic, high-temperature magmatic fluids.
Geochemical indicators also strengthened with depth. Selenium, tellurium and bismuth increased downhole, while molybdenum reached 53.6 parts per million at 421 metres and rhenium reached 2.84 ppm at 572.3 metres.
Great Pacific Gold's current geological model is that the drilling has tested a preserved lithocap above or beside an untested magmatic source. The company said the increasing pathfinder elements, high-temperature minerals, pyrite, anhydrite and deeper chalcopyrite are consistent with a source below or lateral to the drilling.
Follow-up exploration
Kasie Ridge is at the northern end of the Wild Dog structural corridor, about 5 kilometres north-east of the historic Sinivit open pit within Exploration Licence 2761. Its advanced argillic alteration footprint extends about 1.5 to 2 kilometres along strike and several hundred metres across.
The company is now undertaking geological, structural and alteration mapping, drainage sampling and specialist mineralogical and geochemical studies to refine its exploration model and rank potential drill targets.
A 6.47-kilometre Minju Creek traverse has already mapped and sampled drainages south and east of the drilled target, including areas containing porphyry-style quartz-chlorite-chalcopyrite-magnetite float and silicified boulders.
Great Pacific Gold chief operating officer and vice-president exploration Callum Spink said the first two holes had provided a clearer understanding of Kasie Ridge and established a vector towards the potential magmatic source.
The company said any follow-up drilling would target the interpreted source of the lithocap as well as structures associated with the later gold-bearing event, subject to the results of ongoing surface work and specialist studies.
Meanwhile, both of Great Pacific Gold's diamond drill rigs remain active at the Magiabe and Mengmut targets within the Wild Dog Project. As of 15 September, 1,639.4 metres had been drilled across nine holes, with assays pending for completed holes.
The Wild Dog Project covers a 15-kilometre structural corridor in East New Britain and hosts an epithermal system alongside several district-scale porphyry targets, including Magiabe and Kasie Ridge.
