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Redstone Resources Limited (ASX: RDS) (Redstone or the Company) is pleased to announce the results of recently completed prospectivity analysis, which has identified a significant number of high priority Lithium‐Caesium‐Tantalum (LCT) pegmatite target areas on the Radisson East Lithium Project and Sakami Lithium Project (collectively the Projects) in James Bay, Québec, Canada.
HIGHLIGHTS
- Prospectivity analysis completed by Mercator Geological Services has generated:
- eighteen (18) Lithium‐Caesium‐Tantalum (LCT) pegmatite target areas across the Sakami Lithium Project; and
- six (6) LCT pegmatite target locations across the Radisson East Lithium Project.
- Targets are identified in areas where favourable lithology, mineralisation, structure and geochemistry for LCT pegmatites occur together.
- The highest priority targets on the Sakami Lithium Project (S01 through S04) occur towards the boundary between the La Grande and Opinaca sub‐province, in an area where amphibolite is truncated by faulting; and are associated with low level geochemical anomalism that is found with LCT pegmatites (see Figure 2).
- The highest priority targets on the Radisson East Project (RE01 and RE02), occur within an amphibolite and an area of low‐level geochemical anomalism found with LCT pegmatites (see Figure 3).
- Radisson East and Sakami Projects have a combined area of 90km2 and cover more than 40 km of the Yasinski Group greenstone belt. Greenstone belts in the James Bay area host a number of pegmatite occurrences including Q2 Metals Corp.’s Mia Lithium Deposit within the Yasinski greenstone belt.
- Planning is now underway to follow up the generated targets at both the Sakami and Radisson East Projects.
- An initial field programme will include field mapping, outcrop sampling and geochemical sampling over the most prospective target areas.
Redstone retained Mercator Geological Services Limited (Mercator) to complete their proprietary prospectivity analysis method on Sakami and Radisson East Projects, identifying eighteen (18) target areas and six (6) target areas respectively on the Projects.
The Sakami Lithium Project (68 km2) consists of three claim blocks within the La Grande sub‐province situated approximately 14 km north of the boundary between the La Grande and Opinaca sub‐ provinces, in a similar geological setting as the Corvette (Patriot Battery Metals), Cancet (Winsome Resources Ltd.) and Adina Lithium Deposits (Winsome Resources Ltd.) lithium deposits, which all occur 10 to 20 km north of the boundary (Figure 1).
The Radisson East Lithium Project (22 km2) consists of two claim blocks, both within the La Grande sub‐province and 55 kilometres to the northeast of Q2 Metals Corp.’s Mia Lithium project (Figure 1).
Figure 1: Radisson East and Sakami Lithium Project location map
The primary purpose of this prospectivity analysis was to identify priority lithium targets within the Projects to guide further exploration. The prospectivity model used was designed on the LCT (lithium‐ cesium‐tantalum) pegmatite deposit model of Černy & Ercit (2005)1, and review of data from the known lithium deposits in the area. The final version of the prospectivity map consisted of 79 input layers of data sourced from the Government of Québec’s Geomining Information System (SIGÉOM) that were used to calculate the prospectivity weightings. The model was designed to highlight the best lithium targets where favourable structure, lithology, mineralisation, and LCT pegmatites geochemistry occur.
SAKAMI LITHIUM PROJECT
The prospectivity analysis has generated eighteen (18) target areas that are prospective for LCT pegmatites across the Sakami Lithium Project, (Figure 2).
The two easternmost claim blocks follow a north‐south trend of elevated prospectivity scores, and the northwestern‐most claim block is highlighted by an elevated prospectivity score along its northern boundary (Figure 2). The north‐south trend of prospectivity appears to be associated with amphibolite and paragneiss units along north‐northeast‐trending faults.
Figure 2: Prospectivity analysis of Sakami Lithium Project
The highest priority targets on the Sakami Lithium Project are targets S01 through S04 to the south end of the Project towards the La Grande‐Opinaca sub‐province boundary. These high priority targets occur in an area where a north to south trending amphibolite unit is truncated by east to west faulting and an increase in low level geochemical anomalism that is associated with LCT pegmatites occurs in the direction of the La Grande‐Opinaca regional geological boundary.
Targets S08 and S09 (Figure 2), lying towards the La Grande‐Minto geological boundary in the northeastern most claim block, appears to be associated with favourable lithology and structure that is commonly associated with LCT pegmatites in the James Bay area.
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This article includes content from Redstone Resources, licensed for the purpose of publishing on Investing News Australia. This article does not constitute financial product advice. It is your responsibility to perform proper due diligence before acting upon any information provided here. Please refer to our full disclaimer here.
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Investor Insight
Redstone Resources' (ASX:RDS) strategic exploration of copper and other base metals in Western Australia's West Musgrave region, coupled with its lithium acquisition in Canada, positions the company to potentially capitalize on the growing global demand for battery metals, leveraging its 100 percent ownership of its West Musgrave project and proximity to significant existing deposits.
Overview
Australia is supporting this growth in demand through its mining-friendly, tier-1 jurisdictions. The country is a world leader in producing and exporting a plethora of metals and minerals, including iron, copper, lithium, nickel, bauxite and gold. Australia produces significant amounts of 19 in- demand minerals from more than 350 operating mines. The Musgrave Province contains a Mesoproterozoic crystalline basement terrain that reaches across the shared borders of Western Australia, the Northern Territory and South Australia. The terrain has significant deposits of several essential metals, including nickel, platinum group elements (PGEs), copper, gold, lead, zinc, chromite, and rare earth elements (REEs). Yet, much of Musgrave remains underexplored, especially for the base metals the world now needs.
Redstone Resources (ASX:RDS) is a base and precious metals exploration company, exploring its 100-percent-owned, highly prospective West Musgrave Project, which includes the Tollu Copper deposit, located in the West Musgrave Province of Western Australia. The company’s West Musgrave Project is located proximal to BHP’s world-class Nebo-Babel nickel-copper- PGE sulphide deposit and Succoth copper (nickel, palladium) deposit, and Nico Resources’ Wingellina nickel-cobalt project.
Redstone also has other pending tenement applications prospective for base metals in the same region. The company is led by a management team with expertise in geology and mineral exploration, business development and corporate law, creating confidence in the team’s ability to capitalize on its assets.
The unique Musgrave terrain has already drawn the interest of notable miners, such as BHP. BHP has progressed with the development of its Nebo-Babel nickel-copper-PGE sulphide deposit, following grant of final regulatory approval to begin construction of the Nebo-Babel mine. The Nebo-Babel nickel-copper-PGE sulphide deposit has been estimated to have a resource of 390 million tonnes grading 0.33 percent copper and 0.30 percent nickel, for 1.2 million tonnes of contained nickel metal and 1.3 million tonnes of contained copper metal (Mea + Ind + Inf – 2012 JORC). Other discoveries and deposits in the area, such as the Wingellina nickel-cobalt deposit, indicate the potential of the West Musgrave region to become a significant base metal jurisdiction.
Redstone’s flagship, 100-percent-owned West Musgrave Project is situated between these two deposits — approximately 40 kilometres east of BHP’s Nebo Babel nickel-copper-PGE deposit and 50 kilometres west-southwest of Nico Resources’ Wingellina nickel-cobalt deposit.
Redstone’s West Musgrave Project is highly prospective yet largely underexplored. The asset has the right geological and structural setting for large magmatic nickel-copper sulphide deposits, volcanic-hosted massive sulphide (VHMS) deposits and other large intrusive related hydrothermal systems.
Location of Redstone’s West Musgrave Project, which includes the Tollu copper deposit, in relation to the world-class Nebo-Babel Ni-Cu-PGE deposit.
The 100-percent-owned Tollu copper vein deposit, located within the West Musgrave project, has a JORC-compliant indicated and inferred resource estimate of 3.8 million tonnes grading 1 percent copper, for 38,000 tonnes of contained copper with a cut-off of 0.2 percent. There is also a current estimated conceptual exploration target*, suggesting a potential for up to 627,000
tonnes of copper at Tollu. (*conceptual exploration target ranges from 31 to 47 million tonnes of mineralization at 0.8 to 1.3 percent copper, containing 259,000 to 627,000 tonnes copper.)
Outside Australia, Redstone Resources is an emerging battery metals explorer and has been building its portfolio of lithium and other critical mineral assets in Canada.
Redstone Resources also recently entered into a 50/50 joint venture agreement with Galan Lithium (ASX:GLN), aqcuiring 100 percent of the highly prospective suite of lithium projects that include the Camaro, Taiga and Hellcat Projects located in the prolific James Bay Lithium District in Quebec, host to several advanced lithium projects and new lithium discoveries in Canada including:
- Patriot Metals (ASX:PMT,TSXV:PMET) Corvette Project
- Winsome Resources Ltd (ASX:WR1) Cancet Project; and
- Q2 Metals Corp (TSXV:QTWO) Mia Lithium Project.
Patriot’s CV8 pegmatite discovery is located only 1.4 km north of the Taiga Project and the newly discovered CV13 pegmatite cluster is located 1.5 km north of the Camaro Project
Redstone will be the manager of the joint venture which covers 5,187 hectares of tenure.
An experienced management team leads Redstone with decades of experience in the mineral resources sector, with expertise in mineral exploration, mining operations and corporate finance.
Company Highlights
- Redstone Resources is an Australia-based mineral exploration company exploring highly prospective properties for copper and other base metals in the West Musgrave region of Western Australia.
- The West Musgrave region has already drawn the interest of miners who have made significant discoveries, including the world-class Nebo-Babel nickel-copper-PGE sulphide deposit and the Wingellina nickel-cobalt deposit.
- Redstone’s flagship West Musgrave Project is located near these existing projects, only 40 km west of BHP’s Nebo-Babel deposit, indicating the potential of the company’s tenure.
- The company owns 100 percent of the West Musgrave Project, which includes the Tollu Copper vein deposit.
- It has the right geological and structural setting for large magmatic nickel-copper sulphide deposits, VHMS deposits and other large intrusive-related hydrothermal systems
- The Tollu Copper vein deposit is proof of a significant hydrothermal system in the project area.
- Redstone Resources has also entered into a 50/50 joint venture agreement with Galan Lithium (ASX:GLN), acquiring a 100 percent of a highly prospective suite of lithium projects in James Bay, Quebec.
- The Redstone and Galan Lithium joint venture project acquisitions in James Bay complement the company’s West Musgrave and its strategy to increase exposure to the growing global battery metals and explore for critical minerals in high demand.
- A strong management team leads the company with decades of experience in the resources sector.
Key Projects
The West Musgrave Project
The West Musgrave Projectcovers 237 square kilometres of highly prospective yet underexplored terrain. The asset is 40 kilometres east of the world-class Nebo-Babel nickel- copper-PGE sulphide deposit owned by BHP, and contains suitable geological structure and settings for nickel-copper deposits. Redstone plans to continue the exploration of the asset to follow up on recent drilling and exploration results which identified numerous prospective targets.
Significantly, recent drilling some 7.5 km northeast of the Tollu Copper Vein deposit has confirmed for the first time the presence of mafic-ultramafic intrusions on the project, which are potential host and/or source rocks for nickel-copper-PGE ± cobalt mineralisation. This confirmation is significant for Redstone especially considering the western boundary of the project area is only 40 kms east of the BHP-owned world-class Nebo Babel nickel-copper-cobalt-PGE deposit and may also be a potential explanation for a source of the high grade copper at Tollu.
The Tollu Copper Vein Project
Redstone’s Tollu Copper Vein deposit is located within the broader West Musgrave Project and has already produced promising drilling results. Tollu hosts a giant swarm of hydrothermal copper-rich veins in a mineralized system covering an area of at least 5 square kilometres.
Copper mineralization is exposed at the surface and forms part of a dilation system within and between two major shears.
Redstone has defined a JORC 2012 resource estimate for Tollu of 3.8 million tonnesgrading 1 percent copper, for 38,000 tonnes of contained copper and 0.01 percent cobalt, which equates to 535 tonnes of contained cobalt. However, the company considers that this estimate may be far greater with further drilling.
Drilling results from Redstone Resources’ most recent exploration program continue to deliver outstanding copper results for the Chatsworth and Forio prospects at the Tollu Copper Vein deposit.
At Chatsworth, recent RC drill hole TLC205 intersected 11 metres at 1.2 percent copper from only 29 metres downhole, extending the previously intersected high‐grade copper lens a further 20 metres towards the surface.
Together with previous drilling, TLC205 has shown that the targeted high grade copper lens at Chatsworth is up to 26 metres thick (downhole), has a copper grade always over 1 percent copper and extends over 140 metres vertical from TLC205 to its deepest intersection to date in TLC188 at 174 metres-184 metres downhole. No drilling has been tested beneath the intersection in TLC188 and so this significant, up to 26 metre thick (downhole) vertically long high-grade copper lens remains open at depth.
Previous significant intersections at Chatsworth also include:
- TLC188 - 10m at 2.51 percent Cu from 174m downhole including:
- 3m at 4.71percent Cu from 175m downhole;
- TLC189 - 26m at 1.46 percent Cu from 61m downhole including:
- 1m at 5.1percent Cu from 84m downhole;
- TLC033 - 5m at 2.21percent Cu from 100m downhole; and
- TLC034 - 15m at 1.39 percent Cu from 136m downhole including:
- 3m at 3.67 percent Cu from 122m downhole.
E-W Cross-section of high grade copper lens at Chatsworth Prospect, Tollu Copper Deposit. Recent intersection in RC drill hole TLC205 is shown along with intersections from 2021 drilling in TLC188 and TLC189 as well as intersections in historical drilling, RC drill holes TLC033 and TLC034
Recent drilling has also delivered further high-grade intersections at Forio, including the highest Cu grade ever intersected with 1 m at 18.5 percent copper from 18 m downhole in RC drill hole TLC203.
Drilling completed at Forio in late 2022 RC drilling campaign at Tollu were aimed at testing the continuity along strike of a zone of high grade copper lenses at Forio identified in previous drilling.
The high grade Cu intersections at Forio include:
- 8 m at 4.1 percent copper from 13 m downhole depth (TLC203) including 1 m at 18.5 percent copper from 18 m downhole.
- 4 m at 1.2 percent copper from 45 m downhole (TLC203)
- 6m at 1.47 percent copper from 80 m downhole (TLC201).
The significant drilling intersections of high‐ grade copper mineralisation at both the Chatsworth and Forio Prospects (dating back to 2017) at Tollu are yet to be included in the existing JORC 2012 Tollu resource estimate.
Redstone and Galan 50/50 Joint Venture
James Bay Lithium Projects - Taiga, Camaro and Hellcat
The Redstone and Galan 50/50 JV recently acquired the James Bay Lithium Projects, namely three high quality projects consisting of Taiga, Camaro and Hellcat Projects (TCH). The projects cover 3,850 hectares and are adjacent to Patriot Battery Metals’ (TSXV:PMET) Corvette Lithium discovery in James Bay. PMET’s CV8 pegmatite is one of the finest new hard rock lithium discoveries, with grab samples averaging 4.6 percent lithium oxide Li2O, and is located only 1.4 kilometres north of the Taiga Project. PMET’s newly-discovered CV13 pegmatite cluster is located 1.5 kilometres north of the Camaro Project.
James Bay Project Highlights:
The Taiga and Camaro are situated in the Meso-Archean to Paleoproterozoic La Grande Subprovince of the Superior Province underlain by the Poste Le Moyne and Langelier plutons, respectively. The Camaro project is hosted in the Semonville Pluton with local windows of the Rouget Formation metabasalt. Properties are hosted in hornblende biotite diorite, quartz-rich diorite, biotite hornblende tonalite, granodiorite, granite, conglomerate, wacke, and amphibolite. The Hellcat Project hosts Vieux Comptoir Granitic suite believed to be the source of the spodumene-bearing pegmatite dykes found within the region. The primary greenstone within the project is amphibolites of the rouget greenstone belt, a similar age to the Grupe de Guyer greenstone belt, located within Patriot Battery Metals Corvette discovery.
Previous initial exploration on the James Bay Lithium Projects completed by Axiom Exploration identified 28 prospective pegmatite dykes.
Board and Management
Richard Homsany - Non-executive Chairman
Richard Homsany is executive vice-president of Mega Uranium, a Toronto Stock Exchange listed company and executive chairman of Toro Energy Limited, an ASX-listed uranium company. He is also the non-executive chairman of Galan Lithium and the Health Insurance Fund of Australia Limited.
Prior to this Homsany was a corporate and commercial advisory partner with one of Australia’s leading law firms. He is currently the principal of Cardinals Lawyers and Consultants and has been admitted as a solicitor for over 20 years. Homsany has extensive experience in corporate law, including advising public resources and energy companies on corporate governance, finance, capital raisings, takeovers, mergers, acquisitions, joint ventures and divestments.
He also has significant board experience with publicly listed resource companies and in the resources industry. He has also worked for an ASX top 50-listed internationally diversified resources company in operations, risk management and corporate.
Homsany is a certified practicing accountant and is a fellow of the Financial Services Institute of Australasia (FINSIA). He has a commerce degree and honors degree in law from the University of Western Australia and a graduate diploma in finance and investment from FINSIA.
Edward van Heemst - Non-executive Director
Edward van Heemst is a prominent Perth businessman with over 40 years of experience in managing a diverse range of activities with large private companies.
He is the managing director of Vanguard Press and was previously the long-time chairman of Perth Racing (1997 to 2016). He was also appointed as non-executive chairman of NTM Gold, an ASX-listed company from July 2019 to March 2021.
Van Heemst holds a bachelor of commerce degree from the University of Melbourne, an MBA from the University of Western Australia and is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants Australia.
He has extensive knowledge of capital markets and established mining industry networks.
Brett Hodgins - Technical Director
Brett Hodgins has over 20 years of professional experience in the resources sector primarily focused on exploration and mining operations. He began his career as a geologist with Robe River Mining and Rio Tinto Iron Ore. During that time he was involved with the commissioning and development of the West Angelas and Hope Downs operations. Hodgins' recent roles include general manager project development for Iron Ore Holdings and he is president/CEO of Central Iron Ore Ltd, a TSXV-listed company gold and iron ore explorer. He brings a wide range of experience in exploration, feasibility studies, operations, and has a broad knowledge of the resource sector.
Hodgins has completed a bachelor of science degree with honors in geology from Newcastle University, diploma of management and a graduate diploma in finance and investment from FINSIA.
Dr. Greg Shirtliff – Geological Consultant
Dr. Greg Shirtliff has over 20 years of experience in industry-related geology and geochemistry, including a PhD in mine-related geology from the Australian National University. Since his studies, Shirtliff has spent over 17 years in various roles in the mining and exploration industry ranging from environmental, mine geology, resource development, exploration and management roles, exploration and technical projects inclusive of engineering and metallurgical. His roles have included several years at ERA-Rio Tinto’s Ranger Uranium Mine, as the senior geoscientist for Cameco Australasia and more recently as the lead geologist and technical manager for Toro Energy Ltd, an ASX-listed uranium development company in Australia where he is the exploration and technical lead responsible for increasing the viability of the company’s uranium and mineral resources, developing and directing the company’s uranium and non- uranium exploration strategy, aiding the company technically through EPA approval for a uranium, and guiding the engineering and metallurgical through to scoping level economic assessment.
Shirtliff has had recent exploration success at Toro Energy, discovering multiple zones of massive nickel sulphide mineralization along the Dusty Komatiite, arguably the first massive nickel sulphide mineralization discovered in the Yandal Greenstone Belt in Western Australia. Shirtliff holds directorships on privately owned consultancy and prospecting companies.
Shirtliff is a long-standing member of the Australian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy and the internationally recognized Society of Economic Geologists.
Wadi Al Junah VMS-Style Copper-Zinc-Gold-Silver Project in Saudi Arabia
Highlights
- As announced on 6 November, MBK’s Saudi Arabian JV company, has been awarded the Wadi Al Junah Project as part of the Saudi Government’s Exploration Licensing Round 6
- Wadi Al Junah is prospective for volcanogenic massive sulphide (VMS) copper-zinc- gold-silver mineralisation and for shear zone gold-silver, with several untested priority targets
- The Project is 35km east of the Al Hajar Au-Ag-(Cu-Zn) deposit previously mined by Ma’aden and is proximal to the regional centre of Bisha, and close to major access routes, local towns and workforce
- Saudi exploration strategy is supported by a well capitalised in-country JV Company in CMC and significant Saudi government incentives to de-risk and fast-track exploration
- Metal Bank continues to assess new potential project areas in Saudi Arabia prospective for copper, gold and other critical minerals – several tenement applications in progress
CMC is a Saudi Arabian limited liability company owned by MBK (60%) and Central Mining Holding Company (‘CMH’, 40%). CMH is a member of the Al Qahtani Holdings group, and was the JV partner of Citadel Resources which, under the leadership of Inés Scotland as Managing Director, was responsible for the exploration and development of the Jabal Sayid copper project in Saudi Arabia (prior to its acquisition by Equinox). CMC will be responsible for managing and implementing the work program for the Wadi Al Junah project utilising the technical expertise of MBK, as the exploration JV partner, in combination with the KSA expertise of the Al Qahtani Group. CMC has a current capitalisation of SAR5m (~AUD2.1m).
Wadi al Junah with an area of 427km2 was the largest of the projects offered in Round 6 and is proximal to the major regional centre and airport of Bisha, with major access routes passing through the license area and local towns and workforce close by. The Project is located in the prospective Wadi Shwas Gold Belt, a region under-explored for shear zone gold, VMS copper-zinc-gold-silver and intrusion-related gold and base metal deposits. It is supported by several mineral occurrences with encouraging geological observations, and gold, silver and copper grades in historic regional- scale reconnaissance mapping, which have not been followed up by modern work.
MBK’s technical team has prepared a comprehensive two-year work program, with an initial focus on following up the previous limited and surface based exploration for mineral occurrences of copper, gold and silver. MBK is aiming to be drill-ready within the next six months.
Commenting on this acquisition, Metal Bank’s Chair, Inés Scotland said:
“The successful tender for the Wadi al Junah project in Saudi Arabia by our JV company CMC via a tightly contested and highly competitive exploration round speaks to our commitment, capability and technical expertise in achieving our strategy of acquiring prospective tenure within Saudi Arabia, which we believe remains underexplored and highly prospective.
Wadi al Junah represents our first project back in Saudi Arabia, a region in which MBK’s management team has extensive experience and a proven track record of success, having previously developed the Jabal Sayid project. We are well-supported by both our JV partner and the significant government incentives provided by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in search for the next Jabal Sayid. The Arabian Shield has so much underexplored potential, and we are ready to get our initial phase of exploration underway as quickly as possible.”
Wadi al Junah Copper-Zinc-Gold-Silver Summary
The Wadi al Junah project area covers an area of 427sq km within the Asir province of the Arabian Shield, southwest Saudi Arabia (Figures 1 and 2). It is approximately 375km south-east of Jeddah, 150km east-northeast of the port of Al Quinfidhad and around 35km east of the Al Hajar Au-Ag-(Cu- Zn) deposit previously mined by Ma’aden. It is proximal to the major regional centre and airport of Bisha, with major access routes passing through the license area and local towns and workforce close by. The majority of the project area is accessed by local tracks and wadi valleys in moderate topography.
Figure 1: MBK MENA projects showing Wadi al Junah (Saudi Arabia) and Malaqa, Area 47 and Area 65 (Jordan).
Figure 2: Wadi al Junah location map within the Arabian Shield showing major geological provinces and major Au and Cu mines (modified from KSA Ministry of Industry and Minerals publication after Nehlig et al, 2002)
Geology
Wadi al Junah is situated within the central Asir terrane of the Archaean Arabian Shield (Figure 2) within the ~80km long north-trending Wadi Shwas Gold Belt. The Shwas VMS belt on the western margin of the Wadi Shwas Gold Belt is host to the Al Hajar Au-Ag-Cu-Zn deposit, and numerous other VMS base metal and Au mineral occurrences of Proterozoic age are present in the region (Figure 3).
Three known mineral occurrences occur in the tenement area – Haniyat (Ag-Cu-+/-Au+/-Zn), Wadi al Maytha (Ag-Cu) and Wadi Umm Rahka (Ag-Cu). Very limited rock chip sampling as part of regional scale mapping work in the 1960’s and 1970’s includes results up to 1.53% Cu, 0.44g/t Au and 160g/t Ag from these prospects, which were never followed up1.
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This article includes content from Metal Bank Limited, licensed for the purpose of publishing on Investing News Australia. This article does not constitute financial product advice. It is your responsibility to perform proper due diligence before acting upon any information provided here. Please refer to our full disclaimer here.
Octava to Commence Drilling at Yallalong High-Grade Antimony Project
Highlights
- Drill rig relocating to site with drilling to commence this weekend.
- The 3000m reverse circulation (RC) drill program is targeting further high-grade antimony at the Discovery prospect.
- Historic drilling at Discovery recorded high-grade antimony intercepts over a strike length of ~300m and remains open. Results include:
- YRC16: 7m @ 3.27% Sb from 12m including 1m @ 11.5% from 18m
- YRC06: 3m @ 6.83% Sb from 21m including 1m @ 13.6% Sb from 22m
- After drilling at Discovery, the drill rig will relocate to the Central antimony target, 2km north along strike. There has been no previous drilling at Central.
- A detailed geophysical survey over the antimony corridor at Yallalong is now complete, with the data being processed. This is expected to generate further targets within the antimony corridor.
Octava’s Managing Director Bevan Wakelam stated, "It’s great to have the rig heading to site and earlier than we had planned. The drilling will start on Discovery, then move to the Central target and should take about 2 weeks to complete. High-grade antimony has already been intersected at Discovery over a significant strike length and this drilling will further test the size. We will also twin some of the previously drilled holes."
Figure 1. Planned drill hole locations at the Discovery antimony target - Yallalong Antimony Project.
The antimony (Sb) mineralisation identified at Yallalong appears within a 10km north-south striking mineralised corridor that is interpreted to be related to a structural belt between the regional scale Darling and Woodrarung faults. Previous exploration identified four principal antimony targets where antimony mineralisation was exposed at surface. Only the Discovery Prospect has any drilling and remains open. Antimony ingot prices at that time were ~$8000/tonne compared to over $30,000/tonne now1.
Figure 2. Antimony targets at Yallalong antimony project with underlying geology.
Drilling at Discovery target recorded some of the highest-grade antimony drill intersections in Australia, at shallow depth, over a strike of ~300m including:
- YRC16: 7m @ 3.27% Sb from 12m including 1m @ 11.5% from 18m
- YRC06: 3m @ 6.83% Sb from 21m including 1m @ 13.6% Sb from 22m
- YRC27: 6m @ 1.35% Sb from 13m
After drilling at the Discovery target is complete, the rig will then move to the Central target, which is located 2 kilometres north along strike. There has been no previous drilling at the Central target.
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This article includes content from Octava Minerals Limited, licensed for the purpose of publishing on Investing News Australia. This article does not constitute financial product advice. It is your responsibility to perform proper due diligence before acting upon any information provided here. Please refer to our full disclaimer here.
Targeted Exploration Focus Delivers an Additional 471koz or 99% Increase in Ounces, and a Higher Grade for Ricciardo
HIGHLIGHTS:
- Updated Mineral Resource Estimate (MRE) for the Ricciardo Deposit (part of the broader Golden Range Project) of 16.44 Mt @ 1.8 g/t Au for 947.5 koz gold.
- Represents a 99% increase in Ricciardo MRE contained gold ounces.
- Proven high-returning exploration with the increased Ricciardo MRE ounces delivered at an attractive all-in discovery cost of only approx. A$16/oz.
- High-quality resource additions given drilling focus on high-grade growth ounces with strong commercial potential.
- The updated Ricciardo MRE comprises:
- 467.5 koz @ 1.6 g/t Au open-pit gold Resource (75% M&I) (optimised pit shell constrained at A$3,300/oz)
- 480.0 koz @ 2.0 g/t Au underground gold Resource
- Critically, the Ricciardo system remains wide open at depth and along strike.
- Total Golden Range Project Mineral Resources now stand at over 1.28 Moz gold, a 58% increase from the previous level.
- This initial outcome validates the excellent potential for further growth within the broader 25km ‘Golden Corridor’ via the ongoing, simple strategy of targeting fresh rock extensions under shallow existing pits.
- RC drilling at the southern end of the ‘Golden Corridor’ targeting high-grade Resource growth is progressing well; 9 holes completed for 1,472 metres to date, assays pending.
Warriedar Managing Director and CEO, Amanda Buckingham, commented:
“This is the result we have been working towards all year. With less than 15,000m of targeted, efficient drilling we have added over 470 koz to the Ricciardo deposit, doubling the Resource.
We are excited by both the outcome itself, and the outlook that it delivers us for the wider corridor of gold deposits. The simple strategy of drilling below shallow open pits to find mineable ounces worked exceptionally well for our producing neighbours. The validity of this strategy is now beyond doubt, for us.
Not only is the Ricciardo system still wide open down-plunge, but the entire 25km long ‘Golden Corridor’ offers similar potential upside from such a relatively simple drilling focus.
In the middle of the infrastructure-rich southern Murchison, and located on existing Mining Leases, the opportunity in front of us is utterly irresistible.”
The Ricciardo Deposit
The Ricciardo Gold Deposit is located on existing mining leases 100% owned by WA8, in the Murchison Region, approximately 300 km east of Geraldton, and 420 km by road north-northeast of Perth. Sitting approximately 8km South of the Golden Range Mill on M59/421, and M59/458, within the Golden Range group of historic open pit mines and deposits.
Discovered in the 1990’s, open pit mining of the oxide resources commenced in 2001, and the plant entered Care & Maintenance twice (between July 2004 and 2009, and May 2010 to mid- 2013). Production was over 300 Koz before finally going into ongoing Care and Maintenance in August 2019.
The Ricciardo deposit is located 90km north of Capricorn Metals’ Mt Gibson Gold Project, 8kms south of the Company’s plant, 26km from the neighbouring Golden Grove processing facility and 40 km northeast of Vault Minerals’ high grade Rothsay gold mine (Figure 1).
Figure 1: The location of the Ricciardo gold deposit within the Golden Range Project; within the broader Southern Murchison region.
The Ricciardo gold system spans a strike length of approximately 2.3km, with very limited drilling having been undertaken below 100m depth prior to Warriedar drilling. Historical mining operations at Ricciardo were primarily focused on oxide material, with the transition and primary sulphides mineralisation not systematically explored.
Warriedar’s drilling of Ricciardo during CY2024 achieved excellent results, demonstrating high- grade extensions to the resource. The results demonstrated that the previously quantified resource is part of a much larger system.
Warriedar engaged independent mining consultants, Measured Group to update the Ricciardo MRE, previously reported 476Koz gold.1
The Ricciardo Gold Deposit consists of six semi-continuous historical open pit mines along the 2.3 km arcuate stretch of the Mougooderra Shear Zone, running north to south. These mines are named (from north to south) Silverstone North, Ardmore, Copse, Silverstone, Silverstone South, and Eastern Creek (Figure 2).
Figure 2: Drilling carried out by the Company during 2023 & 2024, which was used to update the MRE.
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This article includes content from Warriedar Resources Limited, licensed for the purpose of publishing on Investing News Australia. This article does not constitute financial product advice. It is your responsibility to perform proper due diligence before acting upon any information provided here. Please refer to our full disclaimer here.
Drilling Preparations at Abercromby Gold Project
BMG Resources Limited (ASX: BMG) (BMG or the Company) is pleased to announce that preparations to resume drilling at its 100%-owned Abercromby Gold Project are well advanced with the start of drilling scheduled for this month.
- Diamond drill programme focused on resource growth is scheduled to commence this month at the Abercromby Gold Project
- Extensional drilling of high-grade zones is planned with potential to add significantly to BMG's maiden resource of 518,000 oz Au at 1.45 g/t Au
- Infill drilling planned to convert inferred resources to the indicated category to support development studies
- Programme of Work approval in place
- Programme of Work approval in place
John Prineas, BMG's Non-Executive Chairman, said:
"Following the support shown by investors in the recent capital raising, the team at BMG have moved quickly to finalise arrangements to resume drilling at the Abercromby Gold Project.
"The drill programme will focus on expanding high-grade gold zones beyond the existing resource shell, as well as increasing resource confidence by upgrading inferred resources to indicated status.
"The results of the drilling have potential to contribute significantly to resource growth at Abercromby, and to ..iaterially boost the potential project economics."
Drilling for growth in gold resources:
BMG delivered the large maiden Mineral Resource at Abercromby after completion of only three drill campaigns and at a discovery cost of just $8.35 per ounce. This achievement highlights the extensive gold endowment at Abercromby, as well as the efficient exploration planning by our technical team.
This excellent track record of results at Abercromby provides confidence in the potential for continued drilling success at Abercromby that could increase the size of the gold resource.
The Abercromby Gold Project is owned 100% by BMG and comprised within two granted Mining Leases. The Project is located in an established mining region with access to infrastructure (roads, power) and proximal to a number pf producing gold mines.
The favourable metallurgical properties of the Abercromby ore were confirmed by metallurgical testwork completed by Extreme Metallurgy and reviewed by GR Engineering Services. That testwork concluded that the Abercromby gold mineralisation was free milling in nature and amenable to traditional carbon-in-leach processing. High gold recoveries were achieved in the range 93% to 95%.
Maiden Resource is just the beginning:
The maiden MRE for Abercromby is comprised in the Capital Deposit and is defined as 11.12Mt @ 1.45 g/t Au for 518,000 oz Au. This resource is a subset of a global resource estimate containing about 670,000 oz Au at a Og/t Au lower cut-off.
The Capital Deposit remains open at depth and along strike — both to the north and south. A diamond drilling program is planned to commence this month to test for extensions of the mineralisation as well as to convert inferred resources to the indicated category.
The prospective stratigraphy at Abercromby extends for more than 6km with only a strike of 1.2km systematically drilled to date. This provides potential for substantial discovery opportunities with further exploration drilling.
Drilling is also planned for early next year to test regional targets to the south of the Capital Deposit.
Reconnaissance aircore drilling at the Capital South, Archer and Barrack Prospects — located along a 1km corridor of prospective stratigraphy to the south of the Capital Deposit — has confirmed the presence of a large high-grade gold system and supports the potential for a repetition of significant mineralisation like the Capital Deposit.
Table 1: JORC-compliant Mineral Resource for Abercromby.
A further announcement will be issued by BMG once drilling commences at Abercromby.
For further information on the Abercromby resource, see our ASX announcement dated 6 February 2023 'High Gold Recoveries — Abercromby Met Testwork' and 17 April 2023 '518,000oz Au Maiden Mineral Resource for Abercromby Gold Project'.
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This article includes content from BMG Resources Limited (ASX: BMG), licensed for the purpose of publishing on Investing News Australia. This article does not constitute financial product advice. It is your responsibility to perform proper due diligence before acting upon any information provided here. Please refer to our full disclaimer here.
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