THE DRILL SERGEANT: Canyon Resources (ASX: CAY) has received results from samples from the company’s Birsok bauxite project in Cameroon, which had been assayed for confirmation of available alumina (AvAl) and reactive silica (RxSiO2).

The company said the assaying returned encouraging results, which have confirmed previous high-grade total aluminium oxide assays and low level of silica impurities from its first round of XRF assays.

Canyon also received results from rock chip samples taken prior to the commencement of the wet season from new plateaux on the project area that had not been previously explored.

 

Location of recent rock chips, Djombi prospect. Source: Company announcement

 

These results returned high grades of aluminium oxide (greater than 55 per cent) and low silica (less than 2 per cent), with the highest grade results being 59.2 per cent aluminium oxide with 0.92 per cent silicon dioxide.

Best drillhole intersections returned:

BRRC130 – Djombi prospect
6m at 48.8 per cent AvAl and 1.8 per cent Rx.SiO2;

BRRC284 – Baoua prospect
6m at 47.1 per cent AvAl and 3.8 per cent Rx.SiO2; and

BRRC018 – Djombi prospect
8m at 35.6 per cent AvAl and 1.7 per cent Rx.SiO2.

The company considers these results to be consistent with results it has achieved from other high-grade plateaux on the project area and indicate new areas of high-grade bauxite for further drilling.

“We are very pleased with the results of this batch of available alumina and reactive silica assaying, which confirms the high-grade alumina, low silica impurity content of the highest priority targets defined from the first round of drilling,” Canyon Resources managing director Phillip Gallagher said in the company’s announcement to the Australian Securities Exchange.

“The results confirm the strong potential for the Birsok project to define a high-grade resource.

“Several plateaux in the Djombi and the Baoua prospects have returned particularly strong results which we will infill drill ahead of resource definition.

“These prospects will form the basis of the company’s future resource and advance the objective of developing a two to three million tonne per annum DSO mining operation utilising the existing rail and port infrastructure.

“We continue to plan the second round of extensional and infill drilling for after the wet season and we will prepare access and resume defining new targets from mapping and field work, thereby advancing a pipeline of targets from several prospects at all stages of exploration across the project area.

“The recent rock chip results from several newly-defined plateaux to the west of DJ08 are particularly encouraging for the addition of further high-grade bauxite material to the project, and will be tested in the next phase of drilling.

Website: www.canyonresources.com.au

THE DRILL SERGEANT: Rift Valley Resources (ASX: RVY) has received results from RC drilling carried out at the company’s Kitongo gold project in Tanzania.

According to the company the RC drilling program intersected strong zones of gold mineralisation at Kitongo.

The drilling consisted a fourteen hole program, which Rift Valley explained was the first drilling to be undertaken at the deposit since 2001.

The purpose of the program was to confirm the existing resource at Kitongo and to test for depth and strike extensions to the Main Zone.

Rift Valley indicated strong zones of mineralisation were intersected including:

21 metres at 2.68grams per tonne gold from 12m, including 12m at 4.14g/t gold from 12m;

21m at 2.43g/t gold from 117m, including 3m at 9.74g/t gold from 135m;

12m at 1.67g/t gold from 69m; and

18m at 1.55g/t gold from 51m.

 

Kitongo Main Zone with Rift Valley drilling, geology and resource boundary. Source: Company announcement

 

Rift Valley claims the drilling has confirmed resource grade mineralisation continues at depth beneath the already-defined 370,000 ounces of gold Main Zone resource.

The company highlighted the drilling results have also identified a large new zone of shallow mineralisation in the South Limb position.

This new zone is outside an area of artisanal mining and remains open down dip and for at least 300m along strike.

“We are pleased that our first drilling at Kitongo has confirmed our view that major upside exists at the project,” Rift Valley Resources managing director Geoff Gilmour said in the company’s announcement to the Australian Securities Exchange.

“It is particularly encouraging to define a new zone of shallow mineralisation in the South Limb.

“Further testing of this zone and other targets at the project are being planned, with the aim of defining a substantial increase to the existing 370,000 ounce Mineral Resource.”

Website: www.riftvalleyresources.com.au

THE DRILL SERGEANT: Sheffield Resources (ASX: SFX) has received further high-grade drilling results from the company’s 100 per cent-owned Thunderbird mineral sands project, located near Derby in Western Australia.

The results are from extensional drill holes drilled during the company’s 2014 aircore drilling program and include:

Up-dip Extension

THAC484
36 metres at 10.3 per cent heavy minerals (HM) from 7.5m, including 27m at 12.6 per cent HM from 10.5m;

THAC487
42m at 8.63 per cent HM from 6m, including 27m at 11.9 per cent HM from 13.5m;

THAC486
42m at 8.46 per cent HM from 12m, including 24m at 12.0 per cent HM from 22.5m; and

THAC488
39m at 8.57 per cent HM from 10.5m, including 16.5m at 13.8 per cent HM from 22.5m.

Down-dip Infill & Extension

THAC505
60m at 8.1 per cent HM from 70.5m, including 27m at 11.4 per cent HM from 81m;

THAC504
75m at 6.14 per cent HM from 64.5m, including 27m at 9.5 per cent HM from 78m;

THAC511
43.5m at 9.69 per cent HM from 76.5m

(>3 per cent HM cut-off, including >7.5 per cent HM cut-off).

 

Plan view of Thunderbird deposit 32-year pit shell outline on Mineral
Resource Classifications showing location of drillholes. Source: Company
announcement

Sheffield said the latest results, together with previously-released high-grade intersections, demonstrate thick, high-grade mineralisation extends beyond the project’s current resource limits in the up-dip direction.

The company said the results of down-dip drilling also demonstrated continuity of mineralisation within the part of the resource currently classified as Inferred, extending the mineralisation beyond the current resource boundaries.

All results are also outside the 32-year life-of-mine (LOM) optimised pit shell used in the April 2014 Scoping Study, which the company considers to highlight potential to improve the project’s economics.

“These are another excellent set of drill results from Thunderbird,” Sheffield Resources managing director Bruce McQuitty said in the company’s announcement to the Australian Securities Exchange.

“The discovery of additional high-grade mineralisation in the up-dip region is particularly significant because our Scoping Study delivered higher margins in early production years by incorporating similar high-grade mineralisation in adjacent areas.

“This latest discovery is just one of several value enhancement opportunities we are investigating during the pre-feasibility stage.

“We look forward to delivering the next milestones which are the resource update and Pre-feasibility Study results.”

The Thunderbird project currently has total mineral resources of 2.62 billion tonnes at 6.5 per cent HM (Measured, Indicated and Inferred) for 170 million tonnes of contained HM, including a high-grade component of 740 million tonnes at 12.1 per cent HM.

The Thunderbird Scoping Study, released in April, showed the project has potential to generate consistent cash margins from high levels of production over an initial
32-year mine life.

All drilling and field-based pre-feasibility activities are now complete for 2014.

Results from infill aircore drilling at Thunderbird and regional exploration drilling are expected to be received during Q4 2014 and Q1 2015, respectively.

Pre-feasibility work is well advanced and is on schedule to be finalised during
Q1 2015.

Website: www.sheffieldresources.com.au

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 to extend Rosie

Duketon Mining (ASX: DKM) has kicked off a reverse circulation and diamond drilling program to test for a potential extension of the high-grade nickel mineralisation at the Rosie deposit within the company’s Duketon project in Western Australia.

The drilling will also test several new nickel targets at Duketon and the Thompson Bore gold prospect.

Diamond drilling at Rosie will test an in-hole EM conductor Duketon identified in a previous drilling program, which sits within a 180 metre-long corridor.

Previous drilling intersected high-grade nickel at both ends of this corridor, including 5.2 metres at 9.18 per cent nickel, 1.09 per cent copper and 7.14 grams per tonne platinum group elements.

Supplementary drilling program at Kharmagtai

Xanadu Mines (ASX: XAM) has launched a supplementary 2014 exploration program at the company’s Kharmagtai copper gold porphyry project, located in the South Gobi region of Mongolia, following the success of the company’s first campaign.

The supplementary exploration program will comprise some 2,500 metres of diamond core drilling and will target areas of particular potential Xanadu identified in campaign 1.

Drilling is expected to be completed before early/mid-December and will mainly target the enlargement of higher-grade zones, specifically:

Potential extensions to porphyry copper-gold mineralisation at Altan Tolgoi;

Connections between the stockwork and tourmaline breccia-hosted copper-gold mineralisation at Altan Tolgoi; and

A new fourth area of mineralisation not included in the current Exploration Target.

The company anticipates the results will add useful insights to the geological model in areas of higher-grade mineralisation and should contribute to Xanadu’s resource estimate for the Kharmagtai project.

“We have taken the project a long way since its acquisition earlier in the year and this supplementary program, armed with the insights from the first campaign, allows us to progress this understanding still further ahead of a more substantive program pla nned for in 2015,” Xanadu Mines managing director George Lloyd said.

Bonya drilling recommences

Rox Resources (ASX: RXL) has commenced a follow-up reverse circulation (RC) drilling program at the Bonya copper project, located east of Alice Springs in the Northern Territory.

The follow-up RC drilling is being undertaken at the Bonya Mine prospect where the previous drilling intersected massive copper sulphide mineralisation in a number of drill holes.

“Although the results from the Bonya Mine prospect were exceptional and are now being followed up with a second drilling program, the results from EM Anomaly 03 are also quite encouraging given the first pass nature of the drilling,” Rox Resources managing director Ian Mulholland said.

“The results from the other EM Anomalies, 04 and 05 are anomalous, and also worthy of further investigation.

“What is emerging now, as a result of this drilling program, is that there are a number of other targets within the area that we should prioritise.

“The results from the Bonya Mine prospect indicate that other areas of outcropping copper oxide mineralisation have the potential to host high-grade copper sulphide mineralisation.

“We’re designing a much larger and more extensive exploration program to fully assess the tenement area.”

THE DRILL SERGEANT: Cassini Resources (ASX: CZI) claimed recently conducted drilling has confirmed the Sugar Lode discovery at the Nebo deposit, within the company’s West Musgrave project.

Drill hole CZC0053 is the second hole Cassini has drilled into the ‘roll-over’ of the Nebo intrusion, known as the Sugar Lode.

 

Plan of Nebo resource (lower image) with zoom-in showing Sugar Lode drill holes and intercepts. Source: Company announcement

 

The company explained the hole targeted an off-hole EM conductor that had been identified from surveying nearby historical hole WMN28.

The hole returned high-grade intercepts of:

3 metres at 2.82 per cent nickel, 0.35 per cent copper from 163m; and

5m at 2.59 per cent nickel, 0.20 per cent copper from 180m within a broad interval of 46m at 0.98 per cent nickel, 0.53 per cent copper from 155m.

The company said this intercept supports and surpasses the original discovery intercept of 7m at 0.98 per cent nickel, 0.53 per cent copper in CZC0024.

Additional results have also been received from holes CZC0051A (6m at 0.28 per cent nickel, 0.60 per cent copper from 55m) and CZC0052A (26m at 0.37 per cent nickel, 0.66 per cent copper from 64m).

Cassini claims these results both demonstrate continuity of mineralisation from the main lode position to the Sugar Lode.

The Sugar Lode remains open along strike to the east and west as well as down-dip.

Further drilling is currently being planned to define the extent of the Sugar Lode.

“This fantastic result confirms the exploration potential of these deposits,” Cassini Resources managing director Richard Bevan said in the company’s announcement to the Australian Securities Exchange.

“We consider that the nickel and copper grades are well above our required resource grade.
 
“Further, the depth of mineralisation is well within our 250 metre open pit boundary.

“Needless to say, the further definition of the Sugar Lode will be a high priority in future drilling.”

Cassin has now completed this RC drilling program at Nebo and both RC rigs have moved to the project’s Babel deposit.

Results from approximately half of the Nebo program remain outstanding, which the company anticipates to be received in the coming weeks.

24 holes have now been completed at Babel with first results expected by mid-November.

Email: admin@cassiniresources.com.au

Website: www.cassiniresources.com.au