Taruga tests PNG gold scale with boots-on-ground push

Taruga Minerals has officially rolled out the field crews at its Weioko gold district on Papua New Guinea’s Normanby Island, marking the company’s first on-ground work under its East Normanby option.

The company’s reconnaissance fieldwork will focus on pinpointing extensions to its Weioko gold deposit, with multiple gold and silver targets identified across an 8-kilometre strike.

Notably, the Sipupu and Lataona Hill prospects, between 800 and two kilometres northeast of Weioko, will receive particular attention from the geos.

Sipupu is shaping up as an epithermal gold target, with historical rock-chip samples returning assays of up to 10.8 grams per tonne gold. Nearby Lataona Hill mirrors the Weioko setting, hosting a robust, continuous gold-in-soil anomaly stretching about 1.6 kilometres long and 200 metres wide, coincident with a broad induced polarisation anomaly.

Another target of interest is the company’s Gwamogwamo prospect. Lit up by a 1.5-kilometre-long gold-copper geochemical trend, the prospect has been further backed up with trenching, drilling and surface sampling.

The initial program across these targets will blend rock chip sampling of quartz veins and altered host rocks with stream sediment geochemistry. It also aims to re-sample and validate historical trenches and drill sites to firm up the project’s district-scale credentials.

Earlier rock chips unearthed eight kilometres from Weioko included a highlight hit of 23.2 grams per tonne (g/t) gold, with six other samples returning grades ranging from 1.2g/t through to 10g/t, 5.4g/t and 13.1g/t gold.

These results have confirmed similar historical results and hint the Weioko mineralisation may extend along strike for the entire eight kilometres.

We have a number of priority targets that require immediate follow up and we look forward to updating our shareholders as these results become available.

The exploration work forms part of a recent 12-month option agreement that gives Taruga the right to acquire 100 per cent of the East Normanby gold project and a nearby Kol Mountain copper-gold porphyry-skarn complex, on New Britain Island.

The company has paid a combined upfront A$100,000 option fee and is required to spend A$300,000 on exploration across both projects during the option period to maintain its rights.

If Taruga elects to exercise the option, the company will be required to pay a further $1.65 million in cash or scrip for each project, plus 1.5 per cent net smelt royalties, with staged deferred payments tied to future JORC resources.

Several drilling programs at Weioko between 1987 and 2009 resulted in a high-grade gold discovery, with a best drill hole of 64m grading 2.2 g/t gold. Trenching then delivered a hefty 108-metre stretch running 2.4g/t gold and 68m grading 5.9g/t gold.

With boots now firmly on the ground, improving logistics through the nearby Sehulea airstrip and a string of high-quality targets lining up along strike, Taruga is moving quickly to see whether Weioko is just the opening act or the heartbeat of a much larger gold district.

As fresh assays roll in and targets are sharpened for drilling, the company’s PNG adventure could be gearing up for its most revealing chapter yet.

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