Additionally, the new interpretation suggests that the stacked reefs may plunge southwards, meaning that two of the drillholes could have drilled above the most westward of the mineralised structures. The new understandings arising from the drilling program will assist Dart in getting to grips with the more complex structural architecture at Rushworth than exists in some other parts of the Victorian goldfields.

The company’s principal targets have been the mineralisation plumbing systems offered by key structural intersections, most notably where the planes of bedding-parallel thrust faults intersect big north-south structures.

Dart’s key target structures have been compression-initiated, thrust-hosted quartz veins, north-south faults cutting east-west bedding and saddle reefs – probably the most familiar of the structures reported in accounts of historical mining, especially in connection with Bendigo.

With a new level of comprehension under its belt, Dart is looking at a phase-three diamond drilling campaign after it sees what further information the results from two holes at Star of the West have to offer.

Meanwhile, the company is pressing on with drilling at the Phoenix Reef, which has been the focus not only of historic mining, but also more recent exploration. It is targeting repeat thrust faults at depth below the historic mining and existing exploration.

The company has also had its Star of the West tenement exploration licence application accepted, with the application now progressing through advertising and native title negotiations. The ground was formerly held under a mining licence by a third party.

Management says it is “just getting started”, with the Growlers Hill and Star of the West prospects just the first two targets to be drilled from a long list and it is happy with rig penetration rates and the overall rate of progress.

Trialling its new structural and sulphide indicators that point to high-grade gold zones should be an interesting procedure for Dart. It’s a bit like finding a mysterious old key that might just belong to a long-locked and rather mysterious safe hidden away in the basement.

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