Infill aircore drilling returned 29m at 1.1 grams per tonne gold from 44m; 9m at 2.8gpt from 64m; 4m at 3.8gpt from 56m; 5m at 2gpt from 60m; and 12m at 1gpt from 44m, including 4m at 2.6gpt.

Many of the holes ended in mineralisation and numerous showed evidence of proximal primary mineralisation with significant levels of sheared mafic, quartz veining and alteration logged with bedrock gold.

Dacian said there was strong potential for Cameron Well to deliver oxide resources as well as bedrock gold discoveries with multiple orientations of mineralised structures evident within the 6sq.km anomaly.

Dacian executive chairman Rohan Williams said Cameron Well continued to impress.

“We have now outlined what is clearly a very significant mineralised structure extending over almost 4km from the south-west to the north-east. We also believe that there are other mineralised structures in different orientations,” he said.

“A substantial proportion of the hundreds of 50m-spaced aircore holes we have now completed have returned exceptional gold values for this stage of drilling – a remarkable result over such a vast area.”

Dacian is already conducting reverse circulation drilling aimed at delivering a maiden indicated oxide resource at Cameron Well.

“This RC drilling is the precursor for assessing whether we can deliver oxide ore reserves at Mt Morgans which, if confirmed, would be targeted for early production,” Williams said.

The A$200 million Mt Morgans project is on track for first production in March next year from the Jupiters open pit and Westralia underground.

Dacian believes Cameron Well, 9km from the plant, could be the third major deposit at the project.

RBC Capital Markets analyst Paul Hissey said today’s results showed that Cameron Well could provide a meaningful contribution to Mt Morgans.

“We believe Cameron Well could potentially provide an incremental lift to throughput at Mt Morgans,” he said.

“Oxide material could be blended with other underground and open pit material at Mt Morgans to exceed the 2.5Mtpa throughput capacity of the plant, given the lower crushing requirements.

“The near-to-surface nature of the material means it could also potentially be brought into production sooner.” 

Dacian has initiated early stage environmental studies at Cameron Well.

It will be five years next week since Dacian listed on the ASX after a $20 million initial offering at 40c per share.

Its shares were up by 1.4% to $2.15 this morning, capitalising the company at around $437 million.