Mt Malcolm Mines (ASX: M2M) holds a premium land position in the Eastern Goldfields of Western Australia, covering a 30-kilometre strike of the Keith-Kilkenny Tectonic Zone.
For those unfamiliar with the Keith-Kilkenny Tectonic Zone, it is a world-class, multimillion-ounce, gold-bearing megastructure right in the heart of Western Australia’s Tier 1 Leonora–Laverton region.
Mt Malcolm sits on approximately 274 square kilometres of project tenure that is surrounded by high-end gold companies. These companies have producing (and hungry) gold mines and mills within a 100-kilometre radius, sitting right in the middle of an area where consolidation is emerging as a critical factor.
This hasn’t gone unnoticed by Mt Malcolm Mines, as its strategy is developing deposits within its tenure to be attractive to potential partners.
The neighbourhood includes St Barbara’s over five-million-ounce Sons of Gwalia, Northern Star’s over three-million-ounce Thunderbox, AngloGold Ashanti’s over four-million-ounce Sunrise Dam, Dacian Gold’s over 1.96-million-ounce Mt Morgans, Gold Fields’ over seven-million-ounce Granny Smith/Wallaby, and Red 5’s over four-million-ounce King of the Hills gold mines.
The company believes the Mt Malcolm gold project has the potential to host economic gold mineralisation that will eventually see it, too, become a large-scale district gold play.
Several targets, including Dumbarton, Emu Egg, Golden Crown and Dover Castle, have been identified since Mt Malcolm listed in September 2021; however, more attention is on the Calypso target.
‘Calypso is our prime target, simply because it has an exploration target, defined by BMGS of Kalgoorlie, of between 150,000 ounces and 270,000 ounces,’ Mt Malcolm Mines Managing Director Trevor Dixon says.
‘We are currently testing an additional target at Calypso, Target 3.’
Reverse circulation drilling in 2021 confirmed historic mineralisation at targets T1 and T2, with wider and higher-grade gold intercepts related to the newer T3 target.
Diamond drilling helped confirm the orientation of mineralisation-controlling shear zones, while strengthening targeting parameters for the next round of diamond drilling that will follow up encouraging gold assays.
Future diamond drilling will test mineralisation continuity and the potential for an upscaling of width and grade at greater depth.
‘We have a porphyry intrusive where we are hitting wide intercepts,’ Dixon explains. ‘We are looking to drill beneath it, where we believe the system is widening at depth.’
Mt Malcolm is also keen to commercialise other, shallower deposits at the project, such as Dumbarton and Emu Egg.
Reverse circulation drilling at Dumbarton is testing for extensions to historic drill intercepts in and around the old Dumbarton workings, as well as the validity of the historic drill intercepts. It is also testing up to 500 metres along the strike, which has been inadequately drilled in the past.
The Emu Egg prospect presents as a first-class exploration opportunity, with extensive gold-in-soil geochemical anomalies evident.
The Emu Egg Main Zone anomaly extends more than 2.5 strike kilometres, containing a distinct 100-parts-per-billion gold core covering approximately 450 strike metres.
