Second phase drilling has confirmed mineralisation at the Calarie gold project in New South Wales extends at depth and is open along strike for joint venture partners Godolphin Resources and Orange Minerals.

The 1170m campaign saw five diamond drill holes sunk into the site to test mineralisation below previous workings and to confirm results of two historical RC holes that intersected and stopped in mineralisation.

The three holes drilled below old workings all hit the mineralised contact between sediments and volcanics which is the same mineralisation historically mined at shallower depths at the site.

The zone in question is highly sheared with associated quartz veining and brecciation, strong sericite-carbonate alteration and abundant pyrite with minor chalcopyrite.

Orange says the three deeper holes show mineralisation extends to depth and is open along strike with first assay results expected as soon as next month.

The latest phase of drilling follows a December RC campaign that delivered results including a 1m hit at 48.77 grams per tonne gold from 42m, inside a longer 21m going 4.5 g/t gold from 34m.

Additional results from the previous work include a 5m intercept at 13.5 g/t gold from 143m in one hole and a 14m hit grading 3.4 g/t gold from 112m in another.

The Calarie project is an earn-in joint venture with Godolphin where Orange can earn up to 70 per cent of the project by spending $1.5 million on exploration.

The project is north of Forbes in central west NSW and comprises a mining lease and two exploration licences.

It lies in the Lachlan Fold Belt, a rich gold-copper and rare earths province and is surrounded by tenements owned by companies such as Fortescue Metals Group, Newmont and Sandfire Resources.

The project area around Calarie was once an underground gold mine that churned out about 39,000 ounces at 22 g/t gold between the late 1890s to 1908.

In addition to Calarie, Godolphin has several exploration projects in its 3200 square kilometres of tenements in the region including Lewis Ponds, Yeoval, Copper Hill East and Narraburra.

Just last week the explorer received approval for a 25-hole, 1500m diamond drilling program at its Narraburra rare earths project near Temora in central-west New South Wales.

Godolphin acquired Narraburra earlier this year after entering into a two-tranche farm-in and joint venture agreement with explorer EX9. The transaction allows the explorer to earn an up to 75 per cent stake in the operation.

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