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.

Commencement of multi-stage drilling program

Excelsior Gold (ASX: EXG) is about to kick off a multi-stage development and exploration drilling program at the company’s Kalgoorlie North gold project.

The company said the drilling program forms a critical part of its feasibility study to deliver high-grade open pit ore to the Paddington Mill under a recently-announced milling arrangement.

The drilling program is designed to:

Increase reserves within and around existing resources to help determine final open pit designs;

Extend known resources with a high probability of economic potential;

Explore for high grade plunge repetitions to the South of the known gold mineralisation at Zoroastrian;

Collect geotechnical information in order to optimise open pit designs; and

Undertake first pass drilling over a number of exploration targets generated from fluid flow and HyVista modelling.

Drilling to commence at Pencil Hill

Bisan Limited (ASX: BSN) has been advised a diamond drill rig is expected to commence drilling at the Pencil Hill prospecting licence in Botswana this week.

The program will entail drilling two diamond holes to a depth of 200 metres each to test for graphite and is expected to take at least two weeks and a further three weeks to prepare and send the samples to an independent laboratory for analysis.

Subject to the results of these two drill holes, Bisan can purchase a 30 per cent interest in the Pencil Hill PL.

If Bisan proceeds with the purchase, then it will also have a first right of refusal to increase its pre-IPO holding in Pencil Hill to 51 per cent.

Classic commences deep drilling

Classic Minerals (ASX: CLZ) has commenced a deep drilling program at the company’s Fraser Range tenement.

The drilling is to focus on four targets in the company’s hot zone’, centred on its A17 discovery, which is just 60kms from Sirius Resources’ Nova and Bollinger deposits.

The drilling program is based on the results from a high power Sub Audio Magnetics (SAM) Fixed Loop electromagnetic (FLeM) survey carried out in May, which identified a conductor 1km long, interpreted to extend from 40m to at least 500m depth below existing drilling at prospect A17, which intersected zinc and copper mineralisation.

A further three conductors were identified at depth, which extended the conductive target ‘hot zone’ in the area to over 8km in strike.

Two of the new deep targets are along strike from the Alpha copper deposit.

“We’re backing our own judgment, supported by the results of our geophysical survey work and shallow drilling to date, that we’re right in exploring to the north of the proven Sirius discoveries, although most other activity in the area is to the south and west of Sirius,” Classic Minerals managing director Justin Doutch said.

“We’ve made two potentially significant discoveries – Alpha copper deposit and Mammoth nickel-copper deposit– the only new discoveries in the Fraser Range region last year – which indicate we’re in the right spot.

“Now we’re looking for good results in the new conductors at depth to confirm our interpretation of our work to date.”