Spartan Resources (ASX:SPR) has confirmed why larger rival Ramelius has it in its sights.
In an update issued Tuesday, Spartan told the ASX that it had found more “exceptional” assays from its Dalgaranga gold project in Western Australia.
It was almost a case of ‘tit for tat’ statements from Ramelius on Monday and Spartan on Tuesday, both giving the market good news.
Ramelius revealed a strong production and operating year to June, which had allowed it to generate enough cash to buy a 17.9% stake in its smaller rival. Meanwhile, Spartan has boosted the prospects of its Dalgaranga project being a significant deal down the track.
Ahead for Spartan is its full 2023-24 exploration report this month and a mineral resource update for Dalgaranga. From Ramelius, its financial year exploration and production report will come later this month, followed by the 2023-24 financials in August.
So far this year, Spartan has already revealed interesting grades for the prospect and some of its deposits.
In April, it revealed the newly discovered Pepper prospect within Dalgaranga, and in June, it updated the market with news of a deep gold intercept, extending 647.67 meters down-hole.
According to the company, the Pepper discovery has boosted the outlook for Dalgaranga, and now the nearby Never Never prospect has produced some of the strongest assays so far, adding to the attraction of the whole area.
Tuesday’s statement saw Spartan detail some of the results from in-fill drilling at Never Never and Pepper, which strongly suggest it could eventually be a significant underground operation.
Never Never has recorded an intercept of 10.66 meters at 6.55 grams per tonne (g/t) of gold from a 798.02 meter down-hole, including 0.49 meters at 126.00 g/t, and 10.14 meters at 11.26 g/t of gold from a 966.90 meter down-hole, including 0.77 meters at 126.45 g/t.
Pepper also recorded an intercept of 13.50 meters at 4.47 g/t of gold from a 679.50 meter down-hole, including 0.50 meters at 73.04 g/t.
“These latest intercepts demonstrate the incredible potential of what we have found right in front of our processing plant at Dalgaranga,” Spartan CEO Simon Lawson said in Tuesday’s ASX release.
“With the Never Never gold deposit, we have really shown what can happen with a change in mindset, and the more recent discovery of the Pepper gold prospect has demonstrated that we are really onto something very special in this under-explored greenstone belt.”
Spartan plans to continue drilling at Dalgaranga for the rest of 2024, but the company will take a short break to plan and prioritize its second half-year exploration program.
The upcoming resource update is intended to feed an ore reserve, which will in turn underpin a feasibility study.
“Our drill teams are taking a well-earned rest at the moment while we catch up on the frantic pace of drilling and discovery,” Lawson said.
“Our geology team is now finalizing the new mineral resource estimate to collate our drilling efforts in the first half of this calendar year and update the Spartan value proposition.”