The recent diamond drilling results at Dart Mining’s (ASX: DTM) flagship Triumph project in Queensland, which recorded assays up to 114g/t Au and 276g/t Ag, have demonstrated both increasing grade and continuity of mineralisation that continues to unprecedented depths – neither of which seem to be priced into the company’s $3.6 million market cap – especially at a US$3,340/oz gold price which is pushing all time highs.
This is particularly apparent when considering the enormous size in which intrusion related gold systems (IRGS) often occur, and that Triumph has been identified as analogous with the 5.6Moz Ravenswood mine. The project is centred around the Norton Goldfield, which has historical production of 20koz, and already held a whole host of stellar near-surface assays such as 16m at 9.44g/t Au from 38m, 10m at 26.86g/t Au from 51m and 16m at 5.48g/t from 34m. However, it’s the recent breakthrough assays at depth, such as 4.4m at 8.99 g/t Au and 28.09g/t Ag from 171.3m, that could drastically increase Triumph’s size and scope.
Triumph holds a 150koz at 2.17g/t JORC resource across 5 prospects, all of which are open along strike and at depth, with 85% of ounces contained within 100m of surface. Metallurgical testwork has also recorded recoveries in excess of 96%. The deposit is hosted along just 1.2km of strike, which sits inside a 6km structural corridor – and DTM has a litany of targets that it is aggressively testing with its two company-owned diamond drill rigs.
DTM will also be releasing a JORC exploration target this quarter that outlines the potential upside from upcoming infill drilling. All of the prospects have areas with proven mineralisation through drilling, but with marginally less spacing than what is required for a resource – so this ET should give a relatively high confidence picture of how many ounces DTM could swiftly add with a moderate infill drilling campaign. Only half of the historical drilling database was used to define the 150koz.
The first two assays from DTM’s recent 13-hole, 2,475m drilling campaign have identified numerous areas of new mineralisation at the Big Hans Prospect (34koz), and have paved the way for the 200m gap between this prospect and Super Hans (17koz) to be bridged. DTM is on track to complete at least 7,000m of diamond drilling before the end of 2025, in addition to its planned RC campaign.
DTM was also able to test part of Triumph’s structural hypothesis, by observing the orientation of structures in the diamond drill core – which was confirmed to be a direct down plunge extension of the existing MRE in the high grade zones, with mineralisation extending to the south while being open at depth – towards Super Hans.
TRDD012 hit two new critical zones of mineralisation. The first recorded 4.4m at 8.99 g/t Au and 28.09g/t Ag from 171.3m, including 1.2m at 30.93g/t Au and 86.78g/t Ag, including 0.3m at 114g/t Au and 276g/t Ag. The second hit 3.1m at 7.98g/t Au and 30.62g/t Ag from 179.5m, including 1.7m at 14.85g/t Au and 56.02g/t Ag and 0.5m at 45.90g/t Au and 157g/t Ag.
Triumph has numerous options for near-term development that are being assessed while the company works to increase the resource to a level that warrants a standalone processing plant.
Aeris Resources (ASX: AIS) is feeding 20% of its 600ktpa Cracow mine with low-grade open-pit material of just 0.75g/t – and the mine has previously processed Triumph ore.
Under the JV’s growth strategy, EMR Capital and Golden Energy have pumped $800 million of capital into Ravenswood since the group acquired it 6 years ago, where they grew production from 68koz in 2019 to 179koz in 2024. The operation’s capacity has grown all the way to 5Mtpa – and has plans to expand to 12Mtpa.
A small starter pit at Triumph would be a rapid, low-capex option for DTM to generate cash flow from its existing resource. The market just saw Auric Mining (ASX: AWJ) pocket $17 million from contracting the production of 30koz from a small deposit of similar grade it owned in WA – at no cost to the company.
DTM’s $3.6 million market cap doesn’t seem to be pricing in any potential upside from either resource expansion or near-term development plans – which is perhaps misplaced given the company was able to raise $3 million in February from high profile investors including Jim Mellon, Jason Peterson, and Tim Neesham.
A long section through the Big Hans lodes can be seen below, which displays numerous high grade intersections near surface and at depth – many of which are completely open:
Source: DTM
Triumph’s previous owner, $23 million market cap Sunshine Metals (ASX: SHN) – of which legendary resources investors Lion Selection Group (ASX: LSX) are a major shareholder of – categorised Triumph as analogous to the biggest gold mine in Queensland – the 5.6Moz Ravenswood Mine. The company sold the project to focus on its extensive polymetallic tenements in the same region, and are currently seeking to develop its shallow 95koz Au and 652koz Ag resource, which would fund an extensive regional exploration plan – exactly what DTM could aim to do.
When SHN released its 118koz maiden resource for Triumph, the company held the belief that the project had reasonable expectations of it going into production when taking into account the depth, thickness, and stacked nature of the veining, grades of deposits, metallurgical recoveries, proximity to toll treating mills and the presence of an operating mine.
The potential of discovering a connecting corridor between Big Hans and Super Hans makes for a significant expansion opportunity in the resource and ultimately development prospects. DTM’s diamond drilling campaign has confirmed that the stacked nature of mineralisation continues at depth, and this 200m gap is wide open.
A few more step out holes that further test the mineralisation continuity in this gap could be swiftly followed with a series of 40m spaced RC holes to define a JORC resource:
Source: DTM
Comparing Ravenswood’s 210koz Welcome Breccia Deposit to Triumph’s 34koz Big Hans
Ravenswood is a tonalite hosted intrusion related gold system, with the gold in quartz-sulphide veins with pyrite, arsenopyrite, pyrrhotite, sphalerite, and chalcopyrite. Triumph is analogous with similar tonalite host rock and sulphide rich structurally controlled veins. Both Ravenswood and Triumph have extensive chlorite-sericite and K-feldspar alteration similar to other mineralised intrusive systems around the world – and the age of mineralisation is also similar in the two deposits.
Ravenswood reopened in the 1980’s with a 250ktpa plant that was treating high grade narrow sulphide vein material, before finding bigger systems at depth that led to the expansion of the processing plant to 5Mtpa. With DTM having recently commenced a targeted deeper drilling strategy – which have so far hit the highest ever gold drill intercepts at the project, exciting times are ahead.
The Welcome Breccia deposit is a single prospect that proved to be a valuable, high grade discovery to the Ravenswood operation as a whole. While small in strike at surface, RSG built a high grade 210koz resource by chasing it at depth – and DTM is gearing up to go below 200m for the first time.
RSG’s major discovery hole of 113m at 7.7g/t Au from 316m at Welcome Breccia in 2010 can be seen below, in conjunction with the encouraging but not blockbuster assays recorded at a shallower depth, closer to the existing pit. RSG followed continuing and increasing mineralisation at depth by drilling down plunge – and hit the jackpot – which is exactly what DTM is planning to do:
Source: RSG
It’s also worth noting that much of Ravenswood’s broader mineral resource inventory is low-grade, open-it material which is upgraded through a beneficiation process that involves a three-stage crushing and 40-50mm screening plant. Initial implementation removed 30-40% of waste rock while sacrificing only 4% of the gold, and a 2019 update boosted the waste rock elimination factor to well over 50% – for just a few dollars per ton of ore.
The same mineralogy between Ravenswood and Triumph – coarse visible quartz-sulphide veining – means the technique should translate directly to Triumph. DTM’s own metallurgist designed Ravenswood’s original plant, and a $3-5 million mobile unit could be rapidly built on site.
Triumph’s Extensive History Gives DTM Critical Information Advantages
When DTM released Triumph’s resource upgrade in March this year, which saw contained ounces grow from 118koz to 150koz, the project had seen a total of 42,689m of drilling. This is broken up between 475 RC holes for 37,142m and 37 DD holes for 5,547m – but only 226 RC and 18 DD holes have been used to estimate the current mineral resource – with the rest providing a crucial blueprint to explore other parts of the project. In total, over $8 million was spent in exploration on Triumph prior to DTM acquiring it.
While the Northern and Southern Corridor were both areas of strong interest that SHN was planning on conducting extensive exploration on when it declared the maiden resource at Triumph, it was the Southern Corridor where the bulk of the resource is contained due to focused exploration efforts. This makes sense given the potential of eventually joining Big Hans and Super Hans, but it’s worth noting that the Northern Corridor has historical production of 4koz at an astounding grade of 109g/t, together with nearby assays of 3m at 24.96g/t Au.
As the understanding of the deposit increased, it became evident that there were many geophysical anomalies that could be relatively confidently associated with mineralisation when compared to what prior drilling had yielded:
Source: DTM
These chargeability anomalies present numerous opportunities to keep testing high grade mineralisation extensions around the main prospects and in underexplored areas, as well as much larger, lower grade targets that might be reminiscent of a typical bulk tonnage IRGS deposit.
Below is a deeper bulk tonnage IP geophysics target from 2016 at Triumph’s New Constitution prospect (57.6koz), with the cross section showing a ‘near miss’ drill hole from 2011 that yielded intersections of 1m at 30g/t Au, 1m at 8.3g/t Au and 1m at 5.4g/t Au at depths up to 300m. This target is one of many bulk tonnage targets at Triumph that have not been followed up due to previous operators being focused on shallow open pit ore, and could hold multi million ounce potential:
Source: MBK
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