THE DRILL SERGEANT: Impact Minerals (IPT: ASX) signalled the commencement of a year of aggressive exploration to include drill programs on all three of the company’s Australian precious and base metal projects.

The company said the decision to fund and accelerate work simultaneously on the three projects over the next 12 months follows exploration successes across the portfolio.

This, in turn, led to a recent capital investment from Squadron Resources, the private mining investment vehicle of the Minderoo group, (Andrew and Nicola Forrest), which is investing up to $7.3 million in Impact that includes an initial cash injection of $3 million.

Impact indicated these funds, together with government co-funding awards of $353,000 and funding of up to a further $1.9 million from a recently announced 1-for-6 rights issue will enable it to accelerate its exploration programs to progress each of its projects.

At the Broken Hill high grade copper-nickel-platinum (PGM) joint venture project a drill program will follow up Impact’s discovery of some of the highest grades of PGM ever reported in Australia in a 25 to 30 metre thick near-surface layer of copper-nickel-PGM mineralisation.

This program will in part be funded by a grant of $78,000 towards direct drill costs awarded to Impact in 2015 as part of the New South Wales Government New Frontiers Co-operative Drilling initiative.

At the Mulga Tank nickel-gold project east of Kalgoorlie, exploration has re-commenced with an airborne magnetic and radiometric survey covering the entire 425 square kilometre project area.

The survey is already 60 per cent complete and the data will be used together with follow up ground electrical and soil geochemistry surveys to refine drill targets identified at the Mulga Tank Dunite and Panhandle prospects where Impact has received $275,000 for co-funding of drilling in two awards as part of the Western Australian government’s Exploration Incentive Scheme.

At the Commonwealth gold-silver-zinc-lead-copper project north of Orange in New South Wales, Impact has defined a maiden Inferred Resource of 720,000 tonnes at 2.8 grams per tonne gold, 48g/t silver, 1.5 per cent zinc, 0.6 per cent lead and 0.1 per cent copper including 145,000 tonnes at 4.3g/t gold, 142g/t silver, 4.8 per cent zinc, 1.7 per cent lead and 0.2 per cent copper.

The resource is open along trend and at depth and further resource definition drilling is required, which will necessitate further down hole geophysical surveys to help guide the drilling.

Impact has also identified a number of targets for follow up drilling for precious and base metals at the nearby Silica Hill and Doughnut prospects.

Further field checking, ground geophysical and geochemical surveys throughout the Commonwealth project area are scheduled to commence in October.

“With at least one drill program on all three of our Australian projects in the next 12 months, shareholders can now look forward to the most exciting period in our company’s history as we try to unlock their upside potential,” Impact Minerals managing director Dr Mike Jones said in the company’s announcement to the Australian Securities Exchange.

“The fact that we also have an almost unprecedented amount of $353,000 from Government drilling co-fund initiatives to fund two of our planned programs is an independent testament to the projects’ potential.

“This is an excellent outcome in these difficult times for our industry.”

Email: info@impactminerals.com.au

Website: www.impactminerals.com.au

THE DRILL SERGEANT: Wolf Minerals (ASX: WLF) has commenced tungsten concentrate production from the Drakelands open pit mine at the company’s Hemerdon tungsten and tin project in Devon, southwest England.

“We are very pleased to announce that as part of the commissioning process we have now produced tungsten concentrates to the required specification,” Wolf Minerals managing director Russell Clark said in the company’s announcement to the Australian Securities Exchange.

“We look forward to shipping our first tungsten concentrates to Global Tungsten and Powders in the USA and to Wolfram Bergbau und Hütten in Austria.”

Wolf advised it has also completed commissioning of the crushing and scrubbing section of the plant, as has the fines section, and that design tonnage throughput is being met in both sections.

The company now has the refinery section of the plant in the final stages of commissioning.

Wolf explained that during commissioning of the dense media separation section, the exciter bars of two vibrating screens broke due to a manufacturing fault.

These have been re-manufactured and replaced and commissioning activities continued, but it has resulted in a delay in the takeover of the plant from EPC contractor, GR Engineering Services, to Wolf, which requires the entire processing plant, and all equipment within it, to run at design throughput.

Wolf indicated the takeover is now expected in September 2015.

“Overall, commissioning activities are going well and the operating teams have learned how to manage the plant in different conditions,” Clark said.

“Commissioning is a time when all processes and equipment are fully tested and performance established.

“By its very nature it is not unusual to encounter a number of challenges along the way and our teams are working successfully together to address these.

“It is particularly pleasing that the plant is operating as expected and we are successfully upgrading the ore to produce product that meets our customer’s specifications.”

Website: www.wolfminerals.com.au

THE DRILL SERGEANT: Companies getting busy on the drill bit this week include Marindi Metals, Tyranna Resources, Silver City Minerals, and Helix Resources.

Joshua Drilling to Commence

Helix Resources (ASX: HLX) announced planning has been finalised for a diamond drilling program at the company’s Joshua copper-gold porphyry project in Region IV – Chile.

The drill rig and crew are expected to mobilise to the site next week with Helix’s JV partners EPG having awarded the drilling contract for the program.

The program will consist of up to 10 diamond holes for 4,000 metres with an average depth of 400m, including several deeper holes planned.

The drilling program is designed to intersect priority targets within the Joshua porphyry, including the presently untested potassic portions of the system and zones where Helix considers potential for copper enrichment exists.

The program will also expand the strike of the area drilled at Target 1 from approximately 400m to over one kilometre.

Drilling at Balaclava zinc project

Silver City Minerals (ASX: SCI) has commenced diamond drilling at the Balaclava Zinc project south of Broken Hill.

Silver City (75%) and its Joint Venture partner CBH Resources (25%) have been evaluating Balaclava as a possible extension to the Broken Hill mine corridor.

The JV has identified a folded rock sequence which hosts zinc-mineralised ‘lode rocks’.

Zinc sulphide mineralisation is hosted in five close-space lode horizons in a rock package approximately 150 metres wide.

Drilling is designed to fully test the mineralised package. Work should be completed in two to three weeks.

Drilling kicks off at Jumbuck

Tyranna Resources (ASX: TYX) has commenced drilling at the Jumbuck gold project in the North Western Gawler Craton in South Australia.

A total of 110 Reverse Circulation (RC) holes are planned at three of the more advanced prospects – Golf
Bore, Golf Bore North and Camp Fire Bore.

The Golf Bore and Campfire Bore prospects are within the Kingsgate Joint Venture area (TYX 53.4% – Kingsgate Consolidated [KCN] 46.6%).

The program and budget has been approved by both parties to the Joint venture.

“Golf Bore North lies within Tyranna’s 100 per cent-owned EL 5526 (Galaxy Tank) and drilling of 25 RC holes in that area remains subject to native title clearance.

If native title clearance is not attained during the current drilling program, then approximately 25 holes will be drilled at the Mainwood prospect.

The South Australian Government, through its Programme for Accelerated Exploration (PACE) has committed $75,000 towards the drilling costs.

In addition Tyranna also has an outstanding credit with SGS Laboratories for $20,000 of assay work.

All drilling targets are constrained to an area within 50kms from the Challenger milling operations.

Subject to certain conditions, all joint venture ore can be treated at the Challenger mill.

Maiden Drilling at Newman zinc project

Marindi Metals (ASX: MZN) flagged the commencement of a maiden drill program at the company’s 100 per cent-owned Newman zinc project in Western Australia.

The 5000m program will comprise both Reverse Circulation (RC) and diamond drilling and will test three key targets along the Prairie Downs Fault Zone (PDFZ).
 
Drilling will initially focus on the recently discovered Wolf prospect, located 2 kilometres north-west of the Prairie base metal deposit, to test for extensions of known high-grade zinc mineralisation.

Up to eight pre-collared diamond holes will be drilled at Wolf targeting extensions to the high-grade mineralisation both down-dip and down-plunge and along strike.

The drill rig will then move on to Prairie to test for the development of high-grade shoots within the Prairie deposit, as well as the southern extension of the deposit, Prairie Pup.

The final hole in the planned program will test a coincident gravity and aeromagnetic anomaly at the Titan prospect located on the PDFZ some 5km south-east of the Prairie deposit.

THE DRILL SERGEANT: Horseshoe Metals (ASX: HOR) has released XRF readings of copper intersections from on-going resource drilling at the company’s 100 per cent-owned Horseshoe Lights copper/gold project in the Gascoyne region of Western Australia.

The company said the latest results are preliminary in nature, having been taken from three resource drill holes at the North West Stringer Zone and are based on field readings taken at the drill rig utilising a field portable X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF) analyser.

The latest release focused on preliminary results from three holes (RC1138-RC1140) with each hole intersecting broad zonesof copper mineralisation, including:

RC1138

32 metres (from 80–112m) at 2 per cent copper, including 9m (86-95m) at 3 per cent copper (observed as chalcocite in quartz veins);

RC1140

27m (36-63m) at 2 per cent copper, including 9m (53-62m) at 3.2 per cent copper, and 18m (81-99m) at 0.4 per cent copper (observed as malachite); and

RC1139

17m (76-93m) at 0.6 per cent copper and 17m (103-120m) at 0.7 per cent copper (observed as malachite).

“The company’s experience is that the XRF generally underestimates the copper content of each sample when compared to the final analytical laboratory assay,” Horseshoe Metals declared in its ASX announcement.

“The company therefore considers that these intersections are likely to be of a higher copper grade when the final assay results are received.”

Those samples are currently at the analytical laboratory with final assay results expected to be available by the end of August/early September.

“These latest results continue to confirm the benefits of the company’s strategy of in-fill drilling to add copper tonnes and grade to the mineral resource where historical holes have previously been relied upon to create parts of the current resource block model,” Horseshoe Metals said.

Website: www.horseshoemetals.com.au

THE DRILL SERGEANT: Emmerson Resources (ASX: ERM) included its joint venture partner, Evolution Mining (ASX: EVN) in announcing the receipt of assay results from the pre-collar of a deep diamond drill hole (GODD032) recently completed on the Goanna prospect at the JV’s Tennant Creek project in the Northern Territory.

The drilling was co-funded as part of the Territory’s – Creating Opportunities for Resources Exploration (CORE) initiative.

Drill hole GODD032 intersected multiple zones of high-grade copper including:

7 metres at 5.98 per cent copper from 123m, including 3m at 10.4 per cent copper;

3m at 4.75 per cent copper from 162m, including 1m at 10.6 per cent copper; and

1m at 2.37 per cent copper from 221m.

Assay results from deeper intersections in drill hole GODD032 expected shortly.

Emmerson considers the latest mineralisation to be encountered to be analogous to recently discovered Goanna mineralisation some 800m to the east.

“This drill hole was designed to test a new structural and geological interpretation based on the application of a 2D seismic reflection survey – the first application of seismic in the Tennant Creek Mineral Field and consistent with Emmerson’s strategy of discovering a new generation of deposits through applying new geological concepts and innovative technology.” Emmerson Resources said in its ASX announcement.

Goanna was discovered by Emmerson in 2011 and together with Gecko already hosts an Inferred Resource of 4.4 million tonnes at 2.1 per cent copper and 0.11 grams per tonne gold.

“Significantly this mineralisation is shallow and like Goanna, has remained undetected by previous explorers – thus opens up the possibility for further similar mineralisation,” Emmerson said.

“Particularly as the Gecko-Goanna-Monitor mineral system is the largest in the Tennant Creek Mineral Field, stretching over 2.7 kilometres in strike extent.”

Website: www.emmersonresources.com.au