Gold explorer listed Glass Earth Gold has begun a $200,000 six-week five-hole drilling programme at its Serpentine prospect, 13km north of Lake Onslow, near Millers Flat.
Drilling was scheduled to begin yesterday at Serpentine, following an airborne geophysical survey in 2007-08 and more recent rock chip and pan sampling around the area.
Glass Earth chief executive Simon Henderson said yesterday he was excited to be "finally drilling one of Glass Earth's highest priority targets", as the drilling was originally planned for about two years ago, but was delayed for various financial and weather-related reasons.
"We will have to be through the [drilling] programme before the first week in June, when the Dunstan trail is closed," Mr Henderson said yesterday.
Glass Earth is in the process of moving from explorer to gold producer, to boost cashflows, with almost a thousand ounces coming out of its McAdies prospect in the Ida Valley between January and December 2010.
Expectations are 7500 ounces will be mined from McAdies during 2011.
Glass Earth has two alluvial (loose) gold-mining operations, including a fifty-fifty venture with Dunstan Mining Ltd.
Mr Henderson said that historically, the region, part of a schist belt which includes Oceana Gold's Macraes and Frasers underground mines, was a "prolific gold producer" area.
About eight million ounces of gold had been recovered so far.
A "targeting and ranking" exercise using the geophysical data from Glass Earth's $4 million airborne survey initially highlighted the Serpentine prospect, Mr Henderson said.
