Assays from the first two drill holes at Reach Resources’ (ASX: RR1) Murchison South project in Western Australia have returned high-grade gold and offered an initial validation of historical drilling results.

The company completed a 14-hole campaign for 1,463 metres at the Blue Heaven deposit, with hole depths averaging 104m and a total of 1,588 samples collected for assay.

Best assays to date are 41m at 2.01 grams per tonne gold including 15m at 2.01g/t from 2m and 5m at 10.01g/t from 36m and 22m at 0.7g/t gold from 33m including 10m at 1.05g/t from 33m and 1m at 1.61g/t from 45m.

Weathering profile

Reach chief executive officer Jeremy Bower said the first two holes intercepted the main rock types in the model and showed a well-defined weathering profile.

“The weathering zone displays multiple high-grade areas that broadly align with the existing model and that is very encouraging,” he said.

The initial results broadly support an interim mineralisation model developed by Perth-based consultant Mining Plus, where the high-grade mineralisation is consistently associated with quartz veins within hornblende gneiss.

“It gives us a great start towards validating the historic drilling and resource model at Blue Heaven and we now await assays from the remaining 12 holes so we can gain a complete understanding of our project,” Mr Bower added.

Integration into model

Mining Plus will now interrogate the complete set of results before integrating them into the mineralisation model.

“This will guide the next steps in optimising pit designs at Blue Heaven and will help determine the number and locations of planned diamond drill holes,” Mr Bower said.

“[These] will be the source of sample material for metallurgical testing and geotechnical analysis.”

Independent review

Reach appointed Mining Plus to conduct the independent review of Murchison South in December, following a first-stage strategic review that focused on identifying opportunities and expansion potential at the project.

The initial findings highlighted several high-grade zones that remained open at depth and along strike within a revised block model and offered promising infill drill targets for further investigation.

Mining Plus has prioritised the interrogation of these targets and the validation of historical data.

Mr Bower said the confirmation of high-grade zones at Murchison South would be fundamental to the potential monetisation of the company’s gold resource.