Exploration drilling at its $3 million Ballarat Gold Project — roughly 500 metres under the Barkly Street skate park — has unearthed a gold vein valued about $1400 per tonne.

Castlemaine Goldfields managing director Matt Gill said it was one of the greatest strikes he’d ever seen.

“This is one of the best underground gold intersections recorded to date in the Ballarat goldfield, and reinforces our conviction that the best area to explore and mine for gold at Ballarat is at the northern part of the goldfield,” Mr Gill said.

“We need more confirmation but it has raised our hopes, based on the geological data.”

The 29.1 metre long strike was found in the Sulieman Line in the project’s northern section, with 32.1 grams of gold found per tonne.

“Thirty grams is about one ounce and one ounce is worth about $1400. This is a very high value.

“To put it in perspective, the average grade of gold found in WA is two grams per tonne.

“We need to do more follow-up drilling and we need to do more intersections.”

Mr Gill said the find was not even in the Ballarat Gold Project’s current mine plan.

“We can now add it into our mine plan. It’s certainly made us think twice I can tell you.”

Castlemaine Goldfields bought Ballarat Goldfields in March last year for $4.5 million after it proved a liability for former owner Lihir Gold.

The company immediately concentrated on the mine’s northern sections, with initial assay results in July last year finding minerals much higher up the mine than expected.

Mr Gill said it was still planned to turn on the project’s gold mill in September, with an expected 50,000 ounces of gold to be extracted annually. “We are currently extending the existing underground decline and this will pass close by this intersection.

“We now plan to conduct in-fill drilling with the objective of being able to add this mineralisation into our near-term gold production plan.

“This represents a great upside for us, as we progress on schedule towards first gold production in September this year.”

About 100 workers are employed at the Ballarat Gold Project.