HAR updates on drilling progress at US Motherlode gold project

Our gold Investment Haranga Resources (ASX: HAR) just put out an update on drilling at its US gold project in California.

HAR’s project sits in the Motherlode region in California - the epicenter of the original Californian gold rush.

The project has ~US$90M of infrastructure, including a processing plant and an underground decline (which is where HAR is now drilling from).

The project has a 286,000 oz foreign resource (source) and data from a 2008 report shows it could actually host up to ~682,000 ounces. (source)

With this round of drilling, HAR will be looking to convert those into JORC compliant resource estimates.

Today HAR confirmed 334.4m of diamond drilling has been completed at cross cut 3 (XC3).

And at cross cut 4 (XC4), the final drill hole is currently being completed from that part of the decline.

Below is an image from a prior announcement showing each XC with the drilling plan:

(Source)

So far the signs appear to be positive with HAR stating that geological observations consistent with expected lode structures form the visuals so far.

Initial testing using PhotonAssay test work shows strong correlation with the historical screen fire assayed results, with 94-102% of the original reported value.

So it is good to see the existing high grade results confimed:

(source)

Unfortunately HAR has announced that due to significant rainfall recently, that dewatering progress has been delayed by around 15 days.

This delay will also impact the remainder of the program and therefore the results and conversion of the resource to JORC status, which has been delayed beyond the end of January.

(that probably explains the slight sell down today)

Next we want to see assay results from the drilling - especially with gold gapping up to near US$4,700:

(source)

We are also looking to see what happens at HAR’s Senegal gold project

Earlier this month, HAR released results from the second phase of aircore drilling on the project where it completed 65 holes.

These results have HAR committed to a deeper drill program to get underway soon… We covered this in a deep dive article: HAR: 800m of continuous gold mineralisation - deeper drilling to start this quarter

The results confirmed 800m of gold mineralisation across 2 known gold bearing structures, with this drilling only being near surface.

(source)

This has similarities to the early days of $2.1BN capped Predictive Discovery, which found signs of gold from AC drilling which showed mineralised trends before it dug deeper…

We showed the path Predictive took in our article linked above, but of course there are no guarantees that HAR’s project will play out the same.

This drill program only covered a tiny area of this project, where prior soil sampling showed there are signs there could be much greater coverage across more of the area:

(source)

HAR expects that deeper drill program to start this quarter. (source)

The phase 2 drill program started only 8 weeks after the initial results from that first round of drilling.

The initial results included a headline worthy result of 20m @ 6.54g/t gold from just 12m depth which we initially covered here.

HAR has seen enough to commit to a third round of drilling, which will be the first time HAR drills the project with a heavier RC rig - capable of drilling to bigger depths.

(All of the drilling so far has been holes down to ~20-85m depths.)

We know there is ~800m of strike to test and a fair few holes that ended in mineralisation…

So this quarter, we get to see HAR drill at depth and see what’s sitting below those structures.

(and finally chase those holes that end in mineralisation at depth)

Here is a cross-section of one hole that ended in mineralisation “within bedrock”:

(source)

HAR’s announcement on this talked about quartz veins measuring 15-20m and that the deeper drilling will be when we get a full understanding of the grades in the bedrock...

So we are looking forward to seeing drilling getting back underway here later this quarter, with RC drill rigs to test deeper under the surface.

What’s next for HAR?

Senegal - Deeper drill program 🔄

HAR expects to kick off a 3rd, deeper drill program with an RC rig THIS QUARTER.

We want to see HAR drill out the two target areas defined with the shallow aircore holes & the termite mound sampling (TMS):

USA - Ongoing drilling & results for resource conversion to JORC status 🔄

HAR is currently drilling in the US, looking to convert its ~286k ounce non-JORC gold resource into JORC compliance.

Drilling began on December 1st and HAR’s plan is to drill ~2,600m across 25 holes from crosscut 3 (XC3) to crosscut 8 (CX8), with continued dewatering allowing further access into the decline. (source)

(Source)

(Source)