PLC Resources has started an approximately 2,400-metre RC drilling program at Rochefort, testing whether early gold anomalism marks the edge of a larger system. The eight-hole campaign is expected to produce first assays in four to six weeks, but the company cautions that its larger-system interpretation remains conceptual.
- Approximately 2,400 metres of RC drilling across eight holes
- Testing northwest and down-dip extensions at Rochefort
- Maiden program returned up to 0.40 g/t gold in three of five holes
- First assay results expected in approximately four to six weeks
- Program funded from existing cash reserves and approved permits
Rochefort drilling moves from anomaly to test
PLC Resources Limited (ASX:PLC) has put the rig back to work at Rochefort, targeting the northwest and down-dip extensions of a maiden drill pattern that returned anomalous gold but stopped short of defining a deposit. The follow-up program comprises approximately eight RC holes for about 2,400 metres at the prospect, within the Abbotts North Gold Project in Western Australia’s Murchison region.
The exploration case rests on direction rather than grade. PLC’s five-hole, 1,020-metre reconnaissance program intersected gold of up to 0.40 g/t Au in three holes, while the company’s subsequent review identified strengthening alteration, sulphidation and pathfinder geochemistry towards the northwest and at depth. PLC says those features may indicate its initial drilling clipped the margin of a larger hydrothermal system.
Geological vectors point beyond the maiden pattern
The drilling intersected ultramafic and mafic intrusive rocks, including a strongly differentiated dolerite unit. PLC regards the most evolved portions of that dolerite as prospective because similar fractionated intrusive systems in the Eastern Goldfields have been associated with orogenic gold mineralisation. The company says gold anomalism is spatially linked to the evolved part of the sequence, interpreted towards the basal section of hole 26ANRC005.
Other reported indicators include increasing sodic alteration, interpreted as pervasive albitisation, alongside magnesium depletion and weak but persistent pyrrhotite development. Multi-element data also showed rising sulphur coincident with elevated gold, while arsenic and antimony displayed relative depletion. Gold values increased towards the northwestern edge of the existing drill pattern and with depth in three holes, creating the vector for the new program.
Assays are the next test of the theory
Drilling is expected to take about 14 days, with first assay results anticipated in approximately four to six weeks. The work is being carried out under existing environmental and heritage approvals and funded from PLC’s cash reserves, removing the need for a new financing announcement to start this phase.
That gives the campaign a clear near-term catalyst, but the filing contains no new exploration results. PLC’s references to a “larger” or “more material” gold system are conceptual, and the company states that there has been insufficient exploration to define a Mineral Resource. The next assays will therefore need to establish more than isolated anomalism: their grades, widths, continuity and geological setting will determine whether the vectors translate into a coherent mineralised zone.
Bottom Line?
Rochefort now has a defined exploration test and a four-to-six-week assay window, but the central question remains whether its geological signals lead to meaningful gold continuity.
Questions in the middle?
- Will the northwest and down-dip holes deliver stronger grades or wider mineralised intervals than the maiden program?
- Can the reported alteration and sulphidation trends be traced through multiple new holes?
- Will Rochefort produce a coherent target before PLC expands attention to the wider Abbotts North structural corridor?