PLC Resources fires first drill shots into major WA gold anomaly

PLC Resources has wrapped up the first-ever drilling campaign at its Rochefort gold prospect in Western Australia’s Murchison region, completing a reconnaissance reverse circulation (RC) program and demobilising the rig from site.

The company drilled five holes for a combined 1018m across the core of a 400m by 350m gold-in-soil anomaly sitting in an interpreted north-south structural corridor. Hole orientations were designed to intersect quartz-hematite vein systems and associated alteration halo structures.

RC drill chips were sampled at four-metre composite intervals across all holes, with one-metre samples collected from the better-looking sections.

Initial logging delivered encouraging signs within the sheared mafic and ultramafic rocks consistent with gold-bearing hydrothermal systems. These included quartz veining, sulphide mineralisation and potassic biotite alteration intersected across multiple holes.

Rochefort has been steadily advanced from a conceptual target through soil geochemistry, rock-chip sampling and geophysics.

Previous work outlined a coherent gold anomaly, with ultrafine soil samples returning up to 42.9 parts per billion gold and rock chips grading up to 11.7 grams per tonne (g/t) gold from quartz-hematite veins. Gravity and magnetic surveys also highlighted a structurally complex corridor where multiple interpreted structures and lithological contacts converge.

Mineralisation is hosted within fractionated quartz dolerites, a fertile rock type associated with several major Yilgarn gold systems. Management believes the interpreted structural intersections may have acted as pathways for mineralising fluids, focusing gold deposition where key corridors meet.

The geological team has worked systematically through the targeting process — from soil geochemistry and rock chip sampling through to gravity interpretation — and we now have our first look at what lies beneath. We will let the assays do the talking.

Samples have been submitted for multi-element analysis and gold fire assays, with results expected within four to six weeks.

PLC says it will review the results before planning its next exploration assault at Rochefort and across the broader Abbotts North project. The pending assays now hold the key to whether the hydrothermal system revealed in drilling carries the gold grades needed to unlock a new Murchison discovery story.

Few grassroots gold prospects reach the drill stage carrying such a compelling blend of ingredients.

Rochefort combines a large coherent soil anomaly, high-grade rock chips, favourable structural controls and fertile host rocks. The prospect’s first-ever drill campaign has now tested that recipe beneath the surface.

Rochefort also sits 20 kilometres north of New Murchison Gold’s producing Crown Prince deposit, which hosts a resource of 2.2 million tonnes grading 3.9g/t gold for 279,000 ounces.

The broader Abbotts Greenstone Belt historically produced 41,000 ounces at an exceptional head grade of 31g/t yet remains lightly explored by modern standards. The combination of proven endowment, sparse modern drilling and nearby production has therefore strengthened the prospect’s discovery credentials even further.

While Rochefort looks set to drive the company’s near-term news flow, PLC is also quietly building a broader gold footprint across another productive Western Australian gold belt.

Its Yalgoo project, 300 kilometres to the southwest, covers more than 220 square kilometres in the Yalgoo-Singleton Greenstone Belt and hosts the Wadgingarra gold resource of 150,000 tonnes grading 2.7 grams per tonne gold for 13,000 ounces.

Simply put, Yalgoo provides established mineralisation and resource growth opportunities, while Abbotts North offers higher-risk discovery upside.

With drilling complete and assays now in the pipeline, Rochefort is approaching its make-or-break moment.

Whilst the prospect ticked plenty of boxes before the drill bit arrived, the visuals from the holes so far suggest the system also remains alive at depth.

If the assays deliver, PLC could find itself holding a genuine new gold discovery just up the road from one of the Murchison’s newest producing mines.

Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact: matt.birney@wanews.com.au