Dalgaranga Operations
Spartan Resources’ flagship Dalgaranga Gold Project is located 475km north-east of Perth and approximately 65km north-west of Mt Magnet in Western Australia.
The Dalgaranga Project includes a fully-developed gold mining operation (currently on care and maintenance) and an extensive exploration landholding with outstanding opportunities for new discoveries.
The Dalgaranga Project was initially commissioned in 2018 and comprises a fully established gold mine, 2.5mtpa carbon-in-leach processing facility, modern camp accommodation and airstrip.
The mine produced 71,153oz for the 2022 financial year before being placed on care & maintenance in November 2022 to facilitate the implementation of a new strategic operating plan focussed on finding and delineating high-grade resources.
Never Never Gold Discovery
Never Never is a new high-grade gold deposit which strikes and plunges to the west-south-west. The deposit was discovered while following up wide, high-grade drill intercepts from the earlier Gilbey’s North extension discovery immediately north of the Gilbey’s open pit at Dalgaranga and within 1km of the process plant.
Due to the high-grade and apparent scale of Never Never, this deposit now represents the foundation of the Company’s new operating and growth plan.
Never Never is distinct from the Gilbey’s North discovery due to considerable differences in tenor, thickness of mineralisation, mineralogy, scale, orientation and host structure/rock-type. Despite these differences, due to the close spatial association of the two deposits, the Never Never and Gilbey’s North deposits are collectively known as the “Never Never Gold Deposit”.
Never Never is of much higher grade than any of the previously defined ore bodies at Dalgaranga and appears to be far more structural, fold and/or shear-hosted as opposed to the more stratigraphic/shale-associated historically defined Gilbey’s series of gold deposits.
On 2 December 2024, Spartan released an updated Mineral Resource Estimate for the Never Never Gold Deposit of 1.499Moz (5.88Mt @ 7.93g/t).
Results at Never Never continue to demonstrate consistency of thickness and grade, with mineralisation now defined to a vertical depth extent of over 1,000m below surface, with the gold mineralisation remaining open at depth.
The high-grade Pepper discovery was made in April 2024, immediately adjacent to the Never Never Deposit.
Pepper is a blind deposit, which is a deposit that isn’t immediately obvious in shallow drilling but develops at depth. Pepper has thick, high-grade mineralisation commencing at 450m below surface.
Drilling to date has extended Pepper 250m down-dip to approximately 800m below surface and remains open down-dip and to the south. The discovery of Pepper provides evidence of multiple high-grade gold deposits at Dalgaranga, which supports the thesis of a significantly under-explored high-grade gold camp.
In the 2 December 2024 updated Mineral Resource Estimate, the contained ounces for the Pepper Gold Deposit increased by 99% (from the July 2024 release) to 0.73Moz (2.64Mt @ 10.31g/t).
During November 2024, Spartan announced the discovery of a 3rd high-grade lode approximately 110 metres to the south of Pepper. This newly discovered lode named “Freak” is a focus of additional drilling into the 2025 calendar year.
Underground Exploration Decline
Project awarded to Barminco Limited.
The underground exploration decline provides for 2,350m of development to deliver twin decline access for the establishment of underground drilling platforms to in-fill and extend mineralisation within the Never Never, Pepper, Freak, Four Pillars and West Winds areas.
The drill drive has also been designed to support future mine production activities.
Construction commenced in the September 2024 quarter.
All of these steeply-plunging, high-grade gold zones are located along a single 800m-long, semi-continuously mineralised north-south stratigraphic horizon.
The exploration drill drive has been designed to run parallel and adjacent to this horizon to provide underground drill platforms to more effectively define these existing targets, as well as explore for further high-grade shoots and provide critical underground infrastructure as Spartan develops its future mine plan.
In November 2024, Spartan received all regulatory approvals needed to commence underground mining at Never Never and Pepper, utilise tailings from the disused Gilbey’s TSF for the paste plant and to make expected modifications to the Dalgaranga process plant. These approvals provide Spartan with the ability to commence underground mine development in advance of the mill re-commencing operations, lowering the risk associated with a future re-start of operations at Dalgaranga.
Long Section of the Never Never Gold Deposit and the Pepper, Four Pillars and West Winds Gold Prospects looking east. Proposed exploration drill drive design in black.
Yalgoo Gold Project
The Yalgoo Gold Project, including the Melville Gold Deposit, hosts a Mineral Resource of 243,600oz (5.2Mt @ 1.4g/t Au), and is located 110km by road from the Dalgaranga Gold Project.
Spartan will evaluate the future incorporation of this strategic asset as part of a broader regional development plan to unlock the value of the Company’s Murchison gold assets.