Aureka strikes record grades in Victoria as Comstock gold lights up

Aureka’s Comstock gold project in Victoria continues to turn heads with the company unwrapping a suite of assays that not only validate earlier sightings of visible gold but also deliver the highest grades ever recorded at the operation.

The latest numbers, pulled from diamond drill core glinting with coarse free gold, showcase a mineralised system rich in sulphides and structural pathways, and one that is rapidly expanding beyond the limits of the current JORC Resource.

St Arnaud Comstock visible gold with galena and sphalerite in drill hole 25NED002.

The standout headline maker comes from drill hole 25NED002, where Aureka cut 1 metre at a scorching 65.37 grams per tonne gold from 116.2m. The interval includes a 0.3m slice carrying an eye-watering 109g/t gold – the highest individual assay the company has seen at Comstock to date. The same zone also returned almost half a metre grading 65.4g/t gold, underlining a robust high-grade component rather than a one-off spike.

These new assays form part of Aureka’s targeted drilling along the Comstock shear zone – the backbone structure controlling gold emplacement in the district. Mineralisation is tightly associated with quartz reefs carrying arsenopyrite, pyrite, galena and sphalerite, a classic sulphide-rich signature for the St Arnaud Goldfields. The company notes that all of the latest intercepts sit outside of the current resource footprint, pushing the known mineralised system outwards by as much as 100 metres and strengthening the case for a significant resource upgrade.

Geologically, the system is living up to expectations. The Comstock shear hosts a 30–50m wide envelope of deformed rocks with multiple brittle-ductile faults - perfect plumbing features for mineralising fluids. Gold grades and sulphide concentrations consistently spike near laminated, brecciated and massive quartz structures – the same settings that delivered some of the region’s richest historical ore. The visible gold logged in 25NED002 occurs in thick quartz veins with minor stylolites and linked tension veins that appear to act as secondary fluid pathways.

‘The 109g/t Au drilling intercept is a record for the project to date...’

Logging and sampling across the seven-hole diamond program are ongoing, and Aureka says it expects more assays over coming weeks as the laboratory catches up. So far, the emerging pattern suggests the presence of a higher-grade lode or chute developing within the broader shear zone – a configuration found in many of Victoria’s most profitable gold systems.

Aureka Managing Director James Gurry said: “Once again, it is great to report record high gold intercepts across our project portfolio. The 109g/t Au drilling intercept is a record for the project to date and highlights the potential for the Exploration Target to grow the JORC Resource and support the possibility of a future pathway to near-term production.”

Comstock sits within the storied St Arnaud Goldfields, perched on the eastern margin of the Stawell geological zone inside the well-mineralised Lachlan Orogen. The project is only 2km north of the St Arnaud township, where miners historically extracted about 400,000 ounces at an impressive average grade of 15g/t. The reefs trend north-northwest through metasedimentary rocks and host steeply plunging shoots, often extending for kilometres along strike.

Historical production was hampered by the technological limitations of the time. Many old workings stopped at the oxide-sulphide boundary because recovering gold from sulphide-rich ore was costly and inefficient. Modern processing plants however, are far more advanced and Comstock happens to sit within trucking distance of several Victorian facilities capable of treating such ore.

As gold prices trade at record highs, Aureka is pushing ahead with scoping studies and permitting work aimed at positioning Comstock and the greater St Arnaud field for near-term development. Drilling is also continuing at the company’s flagship Irvine project near Stawell, where the explorer recently revealed 10m at 12.1g/t from 413m, including blistering hits of 183g/t and 64.3g/t in tight quartz-sulphide veins.

With multiple rigs spinning, assays flowing thick and fast, and high-grade results stacking up across the portfolio, Aureka appears to be entering a sustained period of momentum as it works to bring Victoria’s next gold mine to life.

Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact: [email protected]

Most Viewed in Business

Loading