Dittmer Project
The Dittmer Project contains the historic, high-grade Dittmer mine which was discovered in 1934 and produced over 54,000 Oz of gold through to 1951. Ballymore has successfully identified an extension to the historic high-grade orebody and is engaged in studies with the aim of re-opening the Dittmer Mine, which operated during the 1930 – 50’s at a reported gold head grade of 151 g/t Au.
Tenements
The Dittmer Project is located 20km west of Proserpine in Central Queensland and comprises two granted MLs, one ML application and three granted EPMs covering an area of 513 km2. The Dittmer Project is located 20 – 50 km west and southwest of the regional centre of Proserpine in central Queensland.
Regional potential summary
The historic Dittmer Mine forms one of several old high-grade workings along a 2km north-northeast trending corridor which is also crosscut by a series of structures with associated historical workings. Field work, including mapping, rock chip, soil and stream sediment sampling, was completed by Ballymore in 2023 to assess Dittmer’s size potential.
Other nearby workings are primarily shallow, open pit mines that operated between the 1890’s and 1930’s and mined at average grades of up to 567 g/t (e.g. Loch Neigh Mine) with copper grades not reported. Despite the presence of extensive workings in the area, this corridor has undergone little or no modern exploration.
Exploration Program
2023 was a transformational year for Ballymore with ongoing success at Dittmer, including exceptional drilling results, further extending the known mineralisation associated with the newly recognised hangingwall lode. Preliminary metallurgical testwork has confirmed that the ore is amenable to processing via both cyanide leach and flotation processes. Field work has demonstrated that Dittmer forms part of a major mineralised system and only a small portion of it has been drilled to date. In December 2023, the Company considerably strengthened its balance sheet with an $11.1 million funding package, including a placement, Entitlement Offer as well as securing US$5m project funding for Dittmer from Taurus Mining Royalty Fund L.P. (finalised 20 March 2024).
The Company completed its Stage 4 diamond drilling program over 2,933.1m across 14 holes (DTDD029 – 042B) which was designed to infill previous drilling and test a number of highgrade shoots in the displaced extension of the high-grade Duffer Lode at the historic Dittmer Mine.
Stage 4 drilling, the deepest to date, confirmed that the lode structure extends for another 100m along strike and down-dip and is getting wider at depth. All 42 holes drilled to date have intersected gold mineralisation offset to within 30m of the historic workings with new drilling potentially doubling the area of known mineralisation.
Drilling to date has targeted a 250m x 200m area adjacent to the historic Dittmer mine and has demonstrated that this area hosts extensive vein-hosted, bonanza gold mineralisation with associated copper and silver mineralisation.
As part of this Stage 4 program, some step-out holes have also been completed, including DTDD042B, which was completed 100m beneath and 100m south of all previous drilling and represents the deepest drill hole ever completed into the Duffer Lode. This hole intersected a broad shear zone from 292.3 - 302.7m with a number of veins including the main lode, a quartz-carbonate-chalcopyrite-pyrite vein, at 301.3 - 301.7m. The structure appears to be getting broader than in shallower intersections and the quartz-carbonate-sulphide veins are considered to be similar in style to previously drilled lode intersections.
A surface drilling campaign has now commenced to test the lateral extent of this exciting discovery beyond the historic Dittmer mine. This step-out drilling program is the first major surface drilling program completed at Dittmer and will test the significant potential for strike extensions to the old mine area, as demonstrated by the large geochemical anomaly defined in this area and the presence of high-grade historic surface workings over more than 2km (e.g. Loch Neigh – 567 g/t Au, Scorpion 355 g/t Au, Golden Gem – 278g/t Au) but have never been drill tested, much like Dittmer.
A CEI-funded heli-borne gradient magnetic and radiometric survey has now been completed over the entire Dittmer Project area in June 2024. The State Government agreed to fund $300,000 to complete the survey. The survey comprised 8,051 line-kilometres and preliminary data has shown enhanced resolution over the local area. Final data is currently being modelled and is expected to play a key role in delineating rock types, faults and alteration for delineating further targets in the local area.
