MINING could restart at a North West gold project once home to one of the most lucrative deposits in Australia.
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The Tick Hill Gold Project hasn’t been mined for more than two decades but drilling results could forge the project back into production.
Drilling is set to restart at the project with a drill rig from South Australia mobilised to the site about 100kilometres south-east of Mount Isa.
Thirty-five air-core drill holes will be drilled within the existing tailings dam along with another 25 holes to test for alluvial potential near the open-cut pit.
The prime focus of the exploration is to find a high-grade gold resource previously mined by Carpentaria Gold in the 1990s.
Carpentaria Gold was a subsidiary of MIM Holdings – the parent company of Mount Isa Mines Limited before it was taken over by Xstrata.
Three Tick Hill mining leases were transferred from Mount Isa Mines to Superior Resources’ joint venture partner Diatreme Resources in March this year.
Diatreme Resources announced its plan to start drilling at the site as part of a joint venture with Superior Resources.
Environmental permits are expected to be granted to give the green light for Diatreme to move ahead with the project.
The exploration focus is on identifying an extension to the earlier high-grade mineralised zone previously mined at the site, averaging 22.6 grams a tonne.
MIM has retained a royalty on gold produced from the deposit.
Tick Hill is one of the highest grade gold deposits in Australia’s producing history in the modern era.
Diatreme’s chief executive officer, Neil McIntyre, said it was exciting to start drilling at Tick Hill, given its rich history of gold production.
“The joint venture team has a wealth of experience and we are excited by the potential of this project,” Mr McIntyre said.
“Tick Hill adds to Diatreme’s prospective minerals portfolio, including our flagship Cyclone Zircon Project [in Western Australia].”
Mining at Tick Hill ceased in 1995 after 513,333 ounces of gold and 705,000 tonnes of ore was produced at a recovered grade of 22.6 grams a tonne gold.
Tick Hill was previously mined by open-pit with an underground mine beneath the pit.
A capital raising campaign secured $249,000 to fund a tailings and surface gold assessment program at the Tick Hill Gold Project and to provide working capital.
