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Capricorn Metals has intersected further high-grade gold mineralisation at its Mt Gibson gold project (MGGP) in Western Australia, strengthening the potential for a new underground resource at the Lexington prospect.
The latest drilling returned standout results of 6m at 57.38 grams per tonne (g/t) gold from 616m and 7m at 40.01g/t gold from 401m, with mineralisation continuing beyond existing open-pit and underground reserve designs.
A total of 26,668m across 88 reverse circulation (RC) and diamond drill holes was completed at Lexington and Hornet during the September quarter, targeting high-grade lodes beneath existing pit designs and along strike.
Capricorn executive chairman Mark Clark welcomed the results, which continue to demonstrate the project’s underground potential.
“The results from this quarter’s drilling at MGGP are very pleasing,” Clark said.
“We continue to intersect high-grade mineralisation over good widths outside the current open pit and underground reserve designs, and the system remains open.”
Other significant Lexington intersections included 29.5m at 6.65g/t gold from 760.5m, 14.5m at 8.44g/t gold from 501m and 3.38m at 55.97g/t gold from 294m.
Drilling has confirmed mineralisation extending well below current reserve pit outlines, with the system remaining open along strike and at depth.
The results build on previous drilling success at Lexington, which identified high-grade mineralisation more than 600m north of the Orion South underground deposit.
Further drilling at Hornet also returned encouraging results, including 3m at 89.88g/t gold from 120m, confirming high-grade mineralisation beneath the existing reserve pit outline.
Meanwhile, resource conversion and extension drilling continued at Orion South, where an additional 10,575m across 45 holes was completed during the quarter.
Significant results included 21.83m at 9.54g/t gold from 371m and 3m at 15.43g/t gold from 356m, with drilling now defining more than 1600m of prospective strike.
The latest results follow Capricorn’s July pre-feasibility study update, which established a maiden underground ore reserve at Orion South of 365,000 ounces grading 2.3g/t gold.
Capricorn is now advancing exploration across the broader Orion South–Lexington–Hornet corridor, which forms part of an approximately 8km mineralised strike hosting Mt Gibson’s existing resource base.
“Drilling will continue with the aim of informing a maiden underground resource at Lexington later this quarter, alongside the ongoing work at Orion South,” Clark said.
“This is an important step towards validating our Range 500 growth strategy.”
The exploration progress comes as Capricorn advances its broader Western Australian gold portfolio, having recently completed the Karlawinda expansion project, lifting processing capacity to 6.5 million tonnes per annum.
At Mt Gibson, construction of an on-site core processing facility has also been completed, with commissioning planned for November to support expanded underground drilling.
Further assay results are expected during the December quarter, ahead of the planned maiden inferred underground resource estimate at Lexington.
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