Barton Gold Holdings (ASX:BGD) said it intercepted broad mineralization of 50 meters to 100 meters below the modeled pit floor at its Tunkillia gold project in South Australia, according to a Monday Australian bourse filing.

Significant intercepts from the drilling include 10 meters at 2.7 grams per tonne (g/t) grade of gold from a depth of 144 meters and 20 meters at 0.9 g/t grade of gold from 339 meters of depth.

The company is currently conducting an optimized scoping study, which is expected to be finished in the first half. It completed 5,064 meters of reverse circulation drilling on the 223 deposit at the project, testing potential depth extension.

It expects to re-optimize both the mineral resource estimate and the open pit design based on prior and ongoing technical analyses, the filing said.

The company's shares were down almost 2% in recent Monday trade.