The Conversation (0)
Warriedar Resources Limited (ASX: WA8) (Warriedar or the Company) is pleased to report on its activities for the quarter ended 31 December 2023.
HIGHLIGHTS
Golden Range and Fields Find Projects, Western Australia
- Sixth and final drill program for CY2023 completed, with a total of 189 holes for 36,088m drilled across the year.
- First phase of RC drilling at Fields Find West completed (Drill Program 5), with assay results received and released.
- Holes within Drill Program 5 targeting gold associated with late porphyries at Fields Find West successfully intercepted significant gold and copper mineralisation including:
- 4m @ 5.00 g/t Au from 92m (Mopoke Prospect)
- 8m @ 1.46 g/t Au from 24m (Sandpiper Prospect)
- 4m @ 1.58 g/t Au from 25m (Sandpiper Prospect)
- 1m @ 1.66% Cu, 0.22 g/t Au, 102 ppm Mo, 16 g/t Ag from 34m (Warriedar Copper Prospect)
- Represents first exploration of the Fields Find porphyry system as a cohesive tenement package by a single owner; follow-up drilling in this area is planned for H1 CY2024.
- Further RC drilling of high-potential base metal and gold targets at Fields Find and Golden Range was also completed (Drill Program 6, 18 holes for 2,785m); results pending.
- Strong pipeline of assay results expected to be received through Q1 CY2024.
Big Springs Project, Nevada
- Proposed Plan of Operation (PoO) application continues to progress.
Corporate
- Cash of A$3.220 million as at 31 December 2023 and zero debt (excluding typical trade creditor balances).
Figure 1: Regional setting of the Golden Range and Fields Find Projects in the Southern Murchison Province of the Yilgarn Craton, Western Australia. Inset Figure (left): Phillips, Geoffrey. (2020). The importance of brownfields gold exploration. Mineralium Deposita. 55.
Western Australian Projects
The Golden Range and Fields Find Projects are located approximately 350 km northeast of Perth and 260 km east-southeast of Geraldton (Figure 1). The Projects’ total consolidated land package is 813 km2, extending for over 70 km of strike from north to south and covering much of the central Yalgoo-Singleton and Warriedar Archean greenstone belts.
Total historical gold production from Golden Range and Fields Find was ~350 koz, with the existing oxide plant placed on care and maintenance in August 2019.
The current JORC (2012) Mineral Resource estimate for Golden Range is 19.2 Mt at 1.5 g/t Au for 945 koz contained gold (of which 461 koz at 1.6g/t Au sits in the Measured and Indicated classifications). For further Mineral Resource estimate details, refer to ASX release dated 28 November 2022.
During the quarter and prior to the reporting date, the Company concluded Drill Program 5 at Fields Find West and carried out Drill Program 6, encompassing drilling at both the Fields Find and Golden Range Projects. A chronological summary of the activities follows.
Click here for the full ASX Release
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.
WA8:AU
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.
Click here for the full ASX Release
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.
Continued Delivery of High Grade Antimony Mineralisation at Ricciardo
HIGHLIGHTS:
- Review of the antimony (Sb) potential at Ricciardo is complete with drillhole assay data confirming Sb mineralisation of significant thickness and grade exists below both the Ardmore pit (previously identified) and the Copse-Silverstone pits (newly identified), representing a potential combined strike length of approx. 1km.
- Multiple significant Sb intervals have been identified (reviewing both historic and WA8 drill hole assays), in addition to results recently released (* indicated below):
- Most of the Sb mineralisation appears to be located above the main gold zone, a distinct metallurgical positive for future processing and economic potential. Similarly to the gold mineralisation, the Sb zones remain wide open at depth.
- Only 11% of historical drill samples at Ricciardo were assayed for Sb. Retained pulp samples from historical holes are currently being tested with pXRF, with those favourable for significant Sb set to undergo laboratory multi element assay.
- An approx. 100kg high-grade sample of antimony mineralisation from Ricciardo has also been dispatched for scoping-level metallurgical testwork.
Warriedar Managing Director and CEO, Amanda Buckingham, commented:
“Following the recent high grade antimony intersections at Ricciardo, our initial review of the broader antimony potential has delivered further promise. An exceptionally high-grade antimony interval, as well as a much wider intersection, are now able to be placed in greater context. This context is a broader volume of antimony, not yet well-defined but with existing drilling showing serious scale and grade potential.
“Importantly, the high-grade antimony appears relatively discrete from higher-grade gold mineralisation, an excellent metallurgical outcome. While it remains early days, we are cautiously optimistic and have commenced initial metallurgical testing for potential processing and antimony recovery.
“While we are excited about this emerging opportunity at Ricciardo, I want to emphasise however that pursuit of this opportunity will be in parallel with our growth-focussed gold drilling at Golden Range, which remains our current core focus.”
Figure 1: The Golden Range and Fields Find Projects, with proximate mines, mills and projects.
Key Ricciardo context
The Ricciardo gold system spans a strike length of approximately 2.3km, with very limited drilling having been undertaken below 100m depth. Ricciardo possesses a current Mineral Resource Estimate (MRE) of 8.7 Mt @ 1.7 g/t Au for 476 koz gold.1
Historical gold mining operations at Ricciardo were primarily focused on the oxide material, with the transition and primary sulphides mineralisation not systematically explored. Antimony was not a focus of previous exploration, with only about 11% of historic drill holes assayed for antimony.
The gold and antimony mineralisation at Ricciardo is predominantly hosted within intensely altered and deformed ultramafic units. The high-grade antimony-dominant mineralisation occurred later than the main gold events and generally sits above the high-grade gold mineralisation.
Click here for the full ASX Release
This article includes content from Warriedar 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.
Further Strong Extensional Diamond Drill Results from Ricciardo
HIGHLIGHTS:
- All residual assay results received from the recent 2,701m (27 holes) diamond drilling program at Ricciardo.
- Drilling underneath the Silverstone pit confirms the identified high-grade shoot continues at depth and at better than previously modelled grades:
- 13.7m @ 3.27 g/t Au and 0.36% Sb (4.04 g/t AuEq) from 253.3m, inc.
1.2m @ 9.00 g/t Au and 0.00% Sb (9.00 g/t AuEq) from 264.85m (RDRC046) - 22.6m @ 2.11 g/t Au and 0.29% Sb (2.71 g/t AuEq) from 294m, inc.
3m @ 7.22 g/t Au and 0.02 % Sb (7.26 g/t AuEq) from 312m (RDRC044)
- 13.7m @ 3.27 g/t Au and 0.36% Sb (4.04 g/t AuEq) from 253.3m, inc.
- Drilling from the Eastern Creek area, located at the southern end of Ricciardo, confirms down dip continuity with increasing grade and width at depth:
- 7.0m @ 2.54 g/t Au and 0.24% Sb (3.05 g/t AuEq) from 170m (RDRC060)
- 25.0m @ 1.23 g/t Au and 0.17% Sb (1.60 g/t AuEq) from 232m, inc.
6.8m @ 2.37 g/t Au and 0.37% Sb (3.16 g/t AuEq) from 250.2m (RDRC059)
- Update of Ricciardo Mineral Resource Estimate (MRE) on track for Q4 2024.
- Aircore drilling program now in progress at the Golden Range Project targeting an underexplored section at the southern end of the 70-km long shear.
- Further growth-focussed Reverse Circulation (RC) drilling of the ‘Golden Corridor’ scheduled to commence in November.
The assays reported in this release are full results for the final 11 diamond holes (1,021m) from the recent 27-hole diamond tail program at Ricciardo. Results for the first 16 holes of this program have previously been reported (refer WA8 ASX releases dated 3 July 2024, 19 July 2024, 2 August 2024 and 26 August 2024).
Warriedar Managing Director and CEO, Amanda Buckingham, commented:
“This final set of diamond results from the recent Ricciardo drilling have really put a bow on the whole program for us. The broad-based extensional success delivered by this drilling is both real and exciting. The fact that these results are being delivered at what are still relatively shallow down-dip depths, and in such proximity to excellent surrounding infrastructure, also delivers excellent potential for the economic character of the anticipated resource additions at Ricciardo. It is my firm belief that we are just getting started in terms of the opportunity at Ricciardo, let alone within the larger ‘Golden Corridor’ and along the broader mineralised shear.”
Key Ricciardo context
The Ricciardo gold system is located within Warriedar’s flagship Golden Range Project in the Murchison region of Western Australia (refer Figures 1 and 2).
Ricciardo spans a strike length of approximately 2.3km, with very limited drilling having been undertaken below 100m depth. It possesses a current MRE of 8.7 Mt @ 1.7 g/t Au for 476 koz gold. 1 Importantly, historical mining operations at Ricciardo were primarily focused on oxide material, with the transition and primary sulphides mineralisation not systematically explored.
Figure 1: The Golden Range and Fields Find Projects, with proximate mines, mills and projects.
Figure 2: The ‘Golden Corridor’ within the Golden Range Project. The image on the right is gravity over shaded residualmagnetic RTP.
The most recent phase of RC and diamond drilling of Ricciardo has concluded. This release reports on the assays from the final 11 holes of the diamond program. These holes were predominantly located in the southern part of the Ricciardo deposit, focusing on down-dip extension where no previous drilling had been undertaken (refer Table 1 and Figure 3 for drill collar and relevant section locations).
All 11 holes returned significant intersections, delivering a further round of meaningful extensional success from the recent program (refer Table 2). All results are set to be incorporated into an update of the Ricciardo MRE, which remains on track for completion during Q4 2024.
Click here for the full ASX Release
This article includes content from Warriedar 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.
Further Step-Out Gold Success and High-Grade Antimony Discovery
HIGHLIGHTS:
- Assay results received for a further 1,102m of diamond drilling at Ricciardo.
- Extremely high-grade antimony (Sb) intersected in multiple holes below the Ardmore pit, including in RDRC067 above the main zone of high-grade gold mineralisation:
- 12.7m @ 4.98% Sb and 0.36 g/t Au (10.92 g/t AuEq*) from 229.2m
incl. 1.85m @ 28.50% Sb and 0.45 g/t Au (60.94 g/t AuEq) from 238.25m
- 12.7m @ 4.98% Sb and 0.36 g/t Au (10.92 g/t AuEq*) from 229.2m
- A wide zone of antimony mineralisation was encountered in hole RDRC001:
- 34m @ 1.0% Sb and 0.59 g/t Au (2.72 g/t AuEq) from 158.80m
- This newly identified and exceptionally high-grade Sb zone, along with the broader antimony potential at Ricciardo, demands prompt follow-up and evaluation.
- Further high-grade gold extension delivered below the Ardmore pit:
- 18m @ 3.41 g/t Au and 0.27% Sb (3.97 g/t AuEq) from 276m (RDRC048B) incl. 4.5m @ 9.90 g/t Au and 0.01% Sb (9.93 g/t AuEq) from 286.5m
- 1m @ 28.31 g/t Au and 2.18% Sb (32.92 g/t AuEq) from 286m (NMRC005)
- 42.6m @ 1.08 g/t Au and 0.05% Sb (1.17 g/t AuEq) from 253.38m (RDRC067)
- ‘Golden Corridor’ diamond drilling now complete, with 31 holes drilled for 3,300m.
- All residual diamond assays expected to be received by late September, with update of the Ricciardo Mineral Resource targeted for Q4 2024.
- Further growth-focussed RC drilling of the ‘Golden Corridor’ scheduled for H2 2024, as well as planned aircore drilling along select parts of the regional shear.
Warriedar Managing Director and CEO, Amanda Buckingham, commented:
“The results for these holes successfully demonstrate further extensional high-grade gold, and for the first time very high-grade antimony zones below the Ardmore pit area.
Given the relative absence of assaying for antimony in historical drilling at Golden Range, we are cautiously optimistic on the potential that might exist here. Moreover, the apparent zonation in RDRC067 is also highly encouraging for any future antimony development potential.
I want to emphasise however that pursuit of this opportunity will be in parallel with our growth-focussed gold drilling at Golden Range, which remains our current core focus.”
* Refer to page 8 of this release for full gold equivalent (AuEq) calculation methodology.
Figure 1: The Golden Range and Fields Find Projects, with proximate mines, mills and projects.
Key Ricciardo context
The Ricciardo gold system spans a strike length of approximately 2.3km, with very limited drilling having been undertaken below 100m depth. Ricciardo possesses a current MRE of 8.7 Mt @ 1.7 g/t Au for 476 koz gold.1 Historical mining operations at Ricciardo were primarily focused on oxide material, with the transition and primary sulphides mineralisation not systematically explored.
Due to the limited number of multi-element assays from historical drill holes at Ricciardo, other mineral potential (outside of gold) has also not been properly evaluated historically.
Figure 2: The ‘Golden Corridor’ within the Golden Range Project. The image on the right is gravity over shaded residual magnetic RTP.
The gold mineralisation at Ricciardo is predominantly hosted with intensified altered and deformed ultramafic units. It is important to note that the newly identified antimony-dominant mineralisation identified in RDRC067 (discussed below) sits above high-grade gold mineralisation in the same area, and may overprint the earlier gold mineralisation in some areas.
High-grade antimony zone discovery below the Ardmore pit
RDRC067 was designed to drill south to north along strike to better understand the structural controls within the Ricciardo deposit and assess the continuity of the ultramafic unit (Figure 3). All previous drill holes (by Warriedar and previous explorers) have been drilled eastward perpendicular to the known mineralised structure. RDRC067 was considered an important hole by the Warriedar technical team in order to confirm there are no additional structural controls and to provide further confidence in the geological model.
Figure 3: Plan view of Ricciardo deposit with current cross section locations annotated. The holes drilled in Q2/Q3 as part of the current program are highlighted in red. Additional holes are also outlined but not presented in below cross sections.
Unexpectedly, RDRC067 intersected significant high-grade antimony mineralisation from 229.2m to 241.9m downhole, returning 12.7m @ 4.98% Sb and 0.36 g/t Au (10.92 g/t AuEq) (Figure 4). Above this high-grade antimony zone, another significant zone was also identified from 183m to 198.1m downhole, returning 15.1m @ 1.42% Sb and 0.42 g/t Au (3.42 g/t AuEq) (Figure 4).
The antimony zones intersected by RDRC067 are interpreted to correlate with a lower grade antimony zone intersected in RDRC038 and RDRC049 (Figure 4). Encouragingly, drillhole RDRC001 returned a wide zone of antimony mineralisation: 34m @ 1.0% Sb and 0.59 g/t Au (2.72 g/t AuEq). Further work is required to determine the geometry and extent of the antimony mineralisation.
RDRC067 concluded at 296.96m downhole depth, within the gold mineralisation domain, as the target depth of the hole had been reached. As RDRC067 is not drilled perpendicular to the Mougooderra Shear, which is the main control of the mineralisation, it is important to note that the intersected thickness does not reflect the true thickness of the mineralisation.
Click here for the full ASX Release
This article includes content from Warriedar 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.
Infill Drilling of Ricciardo Deposit Delivers Significant Gold Mineralisation
HIGHLIGHTS:
- Assay results for a further two (2) diamond tails at Ricciardo confirm a 77m wide (not true width) mineralisation zone 180m down-dip of the current Resource beneath the Ardmore pit, including a high-grade shoot.
- Significant gold intervals include:
- 7.2m @ 4.51 g/t Au from 232.8m, incl. 3m @ 9.03 g/t Au from 234m
- 10.5m @ 1.53 g/t Au from 218.8m
- 3.9m @ 3.35 g/t Au from 218.8m
- 23.2m @ 1.60 g/t Au from 270.8m
- Mineralisation in this area is structurally complex, extends to a vertical depth of ~ 460m and remains open.
- Ricciardo sits in the middle of the 25km-long ‘Golden Corridor’ at Golden Range, which hosts six (6) discrete deposits (18 historic pits) that are all open at depth and possess immediate growth potential.
- Current diamond drilling program (now extended to 3,000m) at Ricciardo and M1 set to be completed in mid-August, with all assays expected by late-September.
- Update of the Ricciardo MRE is targeted for Q4 2024.
- Further growth-focussed drilling of the ‘Golden Corridor’ scheduled for H2 2024.
The results reported in this release are for a further two (2) of the diamond holes drilled in the current program. Results for the first twelve (12) diamond holes of the current program were previously reported (refer WA8 ASX releases dated 3 July 2024 and 19 July 2024).
The results for these two (2) holes again demonstrate wide infill of the broader Ricciardo deposit at depth, further validating the outstanding Mineral Resource Estimate (MRE) growth potential that exists at Ricciardo and along the broader ‘Golden Corridor’ trend (refer Figure 2).
Warriedar Managing Director and CEO, Amanda Buckingham, commented:
“The outcomes of these two diamond tails are significant, given that they represented substantial depth step-outs under the shallow Ardmore pit. A 77m wide mineralised zone (downhole) with a central high-grade shoot (4.51 g/t), 180m below the MRE is a great result. We don’t fully understand the structural geometry here yet, but we are delighted that the deeper part of hole 49 validates the drill results from a previous explorer – confirming the deposit extends to about 460m vertical depth and retains some good grade (3.19 g/t). Excellent progress.
We continue to drill ahead at Ricciardo as part of the current diamond program, with follow-up growth drilling activities in planning for the remainder of H2 2024.”
Figure 1: The Golden Range and Fields Find Projects. Mines and projects within trucking distance of the Warriedar tenure are shown.
Ricciardo deposit
The Ricciardo gold system spans a strike length of approximately 2.3km, with very limited drilling having been undertaken below 100m depth. Ricciardo possesses a current MRE of 8.7 Mt @ 1.7 g/t Au for 476 koz gold.1 The oxide material at Ricciardo has been mined by previous operators.
Click here for the full ASX Release
This article includes content from Warriedar 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.
High grade Assay Results Continue at Youanmi
- The latest batch of assays have been received from the 11,000m drilling program (both diamond core and reverse circulation) at the high gold-grade Youanmi Gold Project, located centrally in Western Australia’s prolific gold fields
- The recently-completed infill/exploration program aimed to improve resource confidence and open up corridors for resource growth; to underpin the Definitive Feasibility Study (DFS), and, additionally, provide sample material for ongoing metallurgical optimisation test-work for the DFS program
- Latest highlights from the program include:
- RXDD131: 4.38m @ 19.07 g/t Au from 387.98m,
- incl. 1.73m @ 41.43 g/t Au from 389.96m
- RXDD119: 4.56m @ 14.60 g/t Au from 220.64m
- RXDD115: 2.99m @ 21.11 g/t Au from 249.88m
- RXDD119: 4.0m @ 7.37 g/t Au from 162.0m
- RXDD132: 7.19m @ 3.90 g/t Au from 263.61m
- RXDD133: 2.83m @ 6.53 g/t Au from 431.00m
- RXDD128: 3.82m @ 4.51 g/t Au from 364.59m,
- incl. 1.73m @ 8.22 g/t Au from 364.59m
- incl. 1.73m @ 8.22 g/t Au from 364.59m
- RXDD122: 0.95m @ 13.50 g/t Au from 204.44m
- §These results further demonstrate the continuity of high- grade gold mineralisation along the Youanmi greenstone belt belt, and the potential for resource growth both at depth and along-strike, with discovery potential to the south
- 35,000m Step-up drill campaign well underway with the plan to bring forward ounces and increase the mine plan
The program focused on converting Inferred stopes at Pollard, United North and Youanmi Main to higher confidence Indicated classification and providing material for metallurgical testing for the upcoming Definitive Feasibility Study (DFS) – on track for H2 CY25.
This final consignment of diamond assay results are the fourth batch of assays results returned from the drill program and have been entirely drilled from the Pollard, Youanmi and United North areas (Figure 1).
Rox Resources’ Chief Executive Officer, Phillip Wilding, commented:
“It’s pleasing to round out the 11,000m RD and DD drilling program with another batch of excellent intercepts.
“More importantly, the program has significantly improved our knowledge of the high grade and underexplored Youanmi ore system, and shown that mineralisation remains open at depth.
“Next steps are to convert Inferred areas of the Resource to the higher confidence Indicated classification, and finalise key intercepts of sample material for metallurgical test work to feed into the Youanmi DFS.
“We are excited to have commenced the 35,000m Step-up program to potentially bring forward ounces in the mine plan and significantly increase the size of the Pollard ore zone.”
Youanmi Major Growth Drill program
Resource drilling has focused on converting selected Inferred stopes in the current Mineral Resource of 16.2Mt at 4.4g/t Au for 2.3Moz (Indicated: 10.7Mt at 4.5g/t Au for 1.6 Moz : Inferred 5.5Mt at 4.2g/t Au for 0.7 Moz) 1 to higher confidence Indicated classification at Pollard, United North and Youanmi Main as shown in plan on Figure 1. The drilling has also provided both sample material for metallurgical testing and valuable geological data for the pending Definitive Feasibility Study (“DFS”) planned for second half of 2025.
Figure 1: Plan view of the Youanmi Gold Project featuring drill hole collar locations and 2024 Resource outline overprinted on aerial photography
Outside of the immediate resource area, drilling was also conducted on near-mine exploration and focused on the Youanmi South prospect area, or Paddy’s Lode, first reporting high-grade intercepts in 20232. The drilling at Paddy’s has complimented the Company’s exploration strategy moving south along the Main Lode Shear Zone (MLSZ) and adding additional gold ounces to the Resource. Youanmi South has the potential to grow the Resource above the 103kozpa Production Target outlined in the recently completed Pre-Feasibility Study (“PFS”)3.
Click here for the full ASX Release
This article includes content from Rox 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 Commenced at Viani in Fiji
HIGHLIGHTS
- The Phase 1, three-hole diamond drilling program has commenced at the Viani Project, Fiji and will test for extensions to the quartz vein gold mineralisation at depth.
- Phase 1 is expected to be completed in early 2025, with plans for additional drilling under the same program dependent on the initial results
- The Viani Project (SPL1513) covers an area of approximately 200km2 and is largely underexplored.
- At the Dakuniba prospect within Viani, low sulphidation epithermal high-grade gold mineralisation has been mapped over >3km strike length.
- Diamond drilling completed by Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) in 1995 to 1997 intersected high-grade gold in low sulphidation epithermal quartz veins, including 0.6m @ 27.6 g/t Au.
Alice Queen’s Managing Director, Andrew Buxton said,
With drilling underway, Alice Queen is positioned to test the epithermal gold-style mineralisation identified in historic drilling at the Viani Project. Weather permitting, we anticipate completing the Phase 1, three-hole diamond drilling program in early 2025. Following this, our exploration team will mobilise the drill rig to the Sabeto Project in Fiji to maintain the momentum of this campaign. To deliver timely results to shareholders, we intend to accelerate the analysis of the drill core at ALS Brisbane.”
Image 1 – Diamond drilling at Viani
Details
Geology
The geology of the Viani Project (SPL 1513) comprises olivine basalts and volcaniclastics of the Natewa Volcanic Group which are intruded by andesite sills and dykes. In the 1940s, gold mineralisation was found by local prospectors near the village of Dakuniba. At Dakuniba, low sulphidation style epithermal gold occurs in quartz veins, and silicified rocks along a 3km long NE trending zone.
In 1995-1997, Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) drilled six diamond holes at Dakuniba and intersected high-grade gold in chalcedonic, crustiform, colloform banded quartz veins at depths of 50m to 100m below surface (i.e. MJVFV-5 intersected 2.2m @ 11.3 g/t Au, incl 0.6m @ 27.6 g/t Au at 121m downhole). This high-grade gold mineralisation is open in all directions.
Proposed Drill program
The initial Phase 1 drill program at Viani (see Table 1) will comprise three diamond drillholes designed to test continuity to the epithermal gold mineralisation previously intersected in JICA drillhole MJVFV- 5 (2.2m @ 11.3 g/t Au) (see Figure 2). The drilling will test for extensions to the gold mineralisation at depth and along strike.
Click here for the full ASX Release
This article includes content from Alice Queen 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.
