(Sharecast News) - Explorer and developer Greatland Gold announced the start of its maiden drilling campaign at the Paterson South Project on Monday.
The AIM-traded firm said the project was operating under a farm-in and joint venture arrangement with Rio Tinto Exploration, as it disclosed on 30 May.
It said the drilling activities had begun at the Stingray target on the Budjidowns tenement, located north of Greatland's Havieron gold-copper project.
The company described the Stingray target as an underexplored magnetic anomaly within the Budjidowns tenement, which presented significant potential for the discovery of valuable mineral deposits.
In addition to the Stingray target, drilling operations would shortly commence at the Decka target - a combined magnetic and conductive anomaly within Proterozoic sediments, similar to the highly-successful Havieron project.
Both targets were modelled to be within 250 metres of the surface, making them shallower than the Havieron project, which was expected to facilitate the exploration and extraction processes.
"We are delighted to immediately commence our maiden drilling campaign at the Paterson South Project," said managing director Shaun Day.
"The rapid commencement of drilling following entry into the farm-in and joint venture arrangement with Rio Tinto Exploration is testament to both the high quality of the targets and Greatland's drive to rapidly unlock greater value from our Paterson Province exploration portfolio."
At 1012 BST, shares in Greatland Gold were flat at 6.7p.
Reporting by Josh White for Sharecast.com.
Greatland Gold (GGP)