Hi Ho, Hi Ho, it’s off to work we go
THE DRILL SERGEANT: Each week any number of junior exploration plays set out to drill their ground. Here’s a small selection of what’s been happening this week.
Drilling commences on high-priority targets
White Cliff Minerals (ASX: WCN) has commenced a 1000 to 2000 metre
RC drilling program testing four nickel sulphide targets at the company’s Lake Johnston project.
The drilling program will target four high-priority EM conductors within ultramafic units at the Mt Glasse prospect that have associated nickel-copper-platinum-palladium soil anomalies and are considered by the company to be prospective for nickel sulphide accumulations.
White Cliff secured a $150,000 grant from the Western Australian government to drill Lake Johnston nickel sulphide targets.
“The Mt Glasse conductors represent high quality drill targets in a known nickel producing belt,” White Cliff Minerals managing director Todd Hibberd said.
“The conductors occur in the same ultramafic unit as the Maggie Hays and Emily Anne mines, owned by Norilsk Mines, located 30 kilometres to the north and have supporting nickel, copper and platinum/palladium geochemical anomalies above them.
“The additional $150,000 funding provided by the Government of Western Australia significantly reduces the cost of testing these compelling nickel sulphide targets.
“Initial results from this program are expected to be available in early June.”
Letlhakane drilling program commences
A-Cap Resources (ASX: ACB) has recommenced drilling at the company’s Letlhakane uranium deposit in Botswana.
The company is drilling approximately 5,000 metres of RC and diamond drilling with the intention to further define areas that have been identified as high-grade and to provide data for ongoing feasibility work and resource modelling.
This feasibility work will be completed and incorporated into a mining license application early next year.
A-Cap expects a series of RC and diamond drill holes at a 20m spacing will establish the mining scale variability of the uranium mineralisation, defined by down hole gamma probing and advance these areas to a measured resource classification and support inpit reserve definition work.
Upcoming Drill Program
Gateway Mining (ASX: GML) has commenced a drilling program of approximately 1,400 metres of RC drilling and 400 metres of diamond drilling at the company’s Gidgee project in Western Australia.
The company said it will drill eight targets in the program, all of which have strong surface or shallow sub-surface anomalism corresponding to electromagnetic conductors.
The drilling is targeting both Volcanogenic Massive Sulphide (VMS) copper mineralisation and intrusive related nickel-copper mineralisation.
Drill program commenced at Massigui project
Birimian Gold (ASX: BGS) has commenced the next phase of the company’s exploration campaign at the Massigui gold project in southern Mali.
An Aircore (AC) drill rig has arrived on the project and commenced a 5,000m drill program that will follow up initial drilling results at the Viper prospect including: 32 metres at 1.94 grams per tonne gold; 12m at 2.53g/t gold; and 8m at 2.75g/t gold.
Birimian Gold aims to aggressively explore the Massigui project, where it made the discovery of its 100 per cent-owned Ntiola deposit.
The company considers the Ntiola District has excellent potential for further gold discoveries.
Maiden Drilling Campaign Underway
Pacifico Minerals (ASX: PMY) has commenced a diamond drilling campaign over multiple priority targets across the company’s Berrio gold project in Colombia.
Earlier this year, Pacifico field teams completed a detailed underground channel sampling program at Berrio, which defined several high-grade zones of mineralisation.
Pacifico has is now drilling a program comprising a minimum 1,500m of HQ core diamond drilling to test the geology and mineralisation beneath the high-grade gold tunnel samples in a minimum of 8 high-grade gold zones.
Drilling started at Lingokoto gold project
Erin Resources (ASX: ERI) has begun a second-phase aircore drilling program at the company’s Lingokoto gold project in Senegal.
The program follows-up initial drilling at Lingokoto carried out in 2013, which returned 6 metres at 51.5 grams per tonne gold and two wide zones of anomalous gold anomalism in weathered bedrock.
The current drilling will scope continuity of bedrock mineralisation and test the surface anomaly, which has now been outlined over a 1.5 kilometre strike length.