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 commenced on Narndee poly-metallic project

Maximus Resources (ASX: MXR) has commenced drilling on the Narndee poly-metallic project located approximately 400 kilometres north east of Perth in the Murchison region of Western Australia.

A total of 23 Reverse Circulation (RC) drill holes are planned, across two targets to follow-up previous drilling on the poly-metallic E59/908 tenement in the south and commence testing an anomalous gold target in the North of the Narndee project.

The RC exploration drilling program commenced with a 10 hole program on tenement E59/908 to test new targets identified during a recently completed Induce Polarization (IP) survey conducted on the tenement, in addition to testing previously identified targets to a depth of up to 210m.

An additional 13 holes are planned following the E59/908 drilling program to test historic gold targets located in the north of the Narndee project.

Drilling commences at Los Rulos

Southern Hemisphere Mining (ASX: SUH) has diamond drilling underway at the Armandino prospect, part of the company’s 50/50 Los Rulos Joint Venture with TSX-listed Lundin Mining Corporation, as part of a new phase of exploration within the Los Rulos project area in central Chile.

The aim of the initial drill program is to test geological modelling and strong chargeability anomalies identified during Induced Polarisation (IP) surveys coincident with channel sampling results.

The location of additional drill holes will be guided by results achieved by these first holes.

Drilling completed at Yalbra

Buxton Resources (ASX: BUX) has completed a RC and diamond drilling program at the company’s Yalbra graphite project.

Samples have been despatched for laboratory analysis and results will be released as soon they are available.

Buxton has also applied for a further exploration licence of 93 square kilometres covering the area to the east, along strike from the Main Zone.

The new application provides Buxton with access to 35 kilometres of prospective strike length that includes several prospects with graphite mineralisation identified at surface.

Drilling kicked off at Tennant Creek

Emmerson Resources (ASX: ERM) has commenced drilling at Tennant Creek following the transfer of the first $500,000 initial payment from Evolution Mining (ASX: EVN).

This initial campaign consists of approximately 2,500m of both diamond and RC drilling aimed at establishing further high-grade gold resources around the Eldorado and Chariot deposits.

Emmerson has identified both of these historic mines as high-priority targets to build on the current JORC Resources – Chariot with JORC resources of 170,000 tonnes at a grade of 17.4g/t gold, and Eldorado being an historic high-grade gold producer (122,000 ounces at 17.9g/t gold) but with untested potential.

“It is very pleasing to see rapid progress both at the technical and commercial level following the signing of the binding heads of agreement,” Emmerson Resources managing director Rob Bills said.

“The first meeting of the joint Exploration Management Committee demonstrated the technical co-operation and ‘fire power’ of the combined companies, with agreement on this initial program, followed by the transfer of the $500,000 initial payment to Emmerson.

“A joint targeting exercise is planned in Tennant Creek for July where it is anticipated the 2014 exploration program will be finalised – this will likely include a mix of both brownfields/near mine targets to rapidly build the resource base and also some new regional or greenfields targets – aimed at discovering a new generation of high grade gold-copper deposits utilising the successful ideas and technology that lead to the Goanna and Monitor discoveries by Emmerson in 2012.”

THE DRILL SERGEANT: Core Exploration (ASX: CXO) has completed mapping and rock chip sampling at the Selins prospect within the company’s Albarta project in the Northern territory.

Core claims the activity has retuned assays up to 13 per cent copper and suggests the Selins prospect could be part of a newly-identified 5 kilometre prospective copper trend within the Albarta project.

The company explained the Selins prospect is located at the western end of a folded, 5km long lithology that is prospective for copper.

Selins is on the western limb of an open fold within the Riddock Amphibolite and an historical copper occurrence is reported to be located on the interpreted eastern limb of the trend, possibly on the same lithological layer.

Selins prospect within Core’s Albarta project tenements overlain on regional geology, NT. Source: Company announcement

“Mapping and sampling for copper occurrences on the eastern limb of the fold is Core’s next step,” the company said in its ASX announcement.

“Core’s exploration mapping and sampling work along with historical workings highlight the potential of the five kilometre long trend.

“Copper occurrences at either end of the copper trend, within a regional fold, indicate that Selins prospect is prospective as a sizeable copper target.”

Core went on to say that it has identified and sampled copper mineralisation at Selins in shears within a metamorphosed/altered garnet-rich amphibolite.

The company considers the host rocks at Selins to have similarities in setting to its Virginia prospect, which is also in the Riddock Amphibolite of the Irindina Province.

The company has follow up mapping planned along with geochemistry over the outcropping geology and also the sediment covered plains which mask the prospective geology to the north.

Results from the next round of work will enable the company to prioritise targets for drilling.

Email: info@coreexploration.com.au

Website: www.coreexploration.com.au

THE DRILL SERGEANT: Impact Minerals (ASX: IPT) is excited by new exploration results it has received from the company’s 100 per cent-owned Commonwealth project near Orange in New South Wales.

Impact claims the results show the known high-grade gold-silver base metal mineralisation at the Main Shaft, Commonwealth South and Silica Hill prospects may be part of a much larger mineralised system, which the company considers to have been, up until now, very poorly explored.

The system covers at least several square kilometres and is thought by Impact to possibly be related to a number of porphyry intrusions buried at varying depths below surface (blind) that could be prospective for bulk tonnage gold-copper deposits.

Impact suggested they could be similar to the Cadia-Ridgeway deposits that contain over 25 million ounces of gold and 5 million tonnes of copper located 100 km to the south of Commonwealth in the same mineralised belt.

Three areas that may host a buried porphyry intrusion at depth have been identified: the previously known Silica Hill prospect and Main Shaft-Commonwealth South prospects and a newly-identified area called the Doughnut, centred 1.5km north of Main Shaft and bound to the west by the Coronation Trend.

Simplified geological model of the elements of a porphyry-epithermal
mineralised system and the relative positions in that system of Impact’s
prospects. Source: Company announcement

“This new interpretation has important implications for further exploration at Commonwealth and in particular the search for the presence of buried porphyry intrusions that may host bulk tonnage copper-gold mineralisation similar to Cadia-Ridgeway,” Impact Minerals said in its ASX announcement.

“Porphyry copper-gold, skarn and high sulphidation epithermal deposits are commonly related in major porphyry copper provinces around the world…and exploration success relies on an understanding of where any particular mineralisation sits within this system.”

Impact has a drill program planned to test a number of the soil, IP and magnetic anomalies identified at Main Shaft, Commonwealth South and Silica Hill together with other areas set to commence in mid to late July.

Email: info@impactminerals.com.au

Website: www.impactminerals.com.au

THE DRILL SERGEANT: White Cliff Minerals (ASX: WCN) has identified a new high-tenor nickel in soil anomaly at the company’s Merolia nickel and copper project in the Laverton region of Western Australia.

The latest find follows the company’s identification of, what it described as, ‘a major nickel anomaly’ at the McKenna prospect in April from analysis of the first 323 soil samples from a the sampling program utilising a PXRF (portable X-ray florescence spectroscopy).

White Cliff said analysis of the remaining 1022 samples has revealed several additional areas with anomalous nickel in soil anomalies.

“The identification of additional nickel anomalies continues to improve the prospectivity of the Merolia project,” White Cliff Minerals managing director Todd Hibberd said in the company’s announcement to the Australian Securities Exchange.

“The size and strength of the nickel anomaly is highly encouraging and warrants further follow up work to the north to define the extent of the anomalism.”

White Cliff explained it has commenced an additional geochemical soil sampling program over this area while further infill geochemical sampling will also be carried out around other defined anomalies with results expected to be available in the coming weeks.

Geological map showing locations of anomalous EM responses and area
covered by geochemical soil sampling survey. Source: Company
announcement

“It is astounding to realise that a major 10 kilometre by two kilometre ultramafic sequence in a region that hosts several major nickel mines has never been tested by drilling or geophysics,” Hibberd said.

“The Rotorua ultramafic is highly prospective for nickel sulphide deposition and represents an excellent exploration target.”

White Cliff intends to follow up the geochemical surveys with low cost RAB drilling and geophysical surveys, which it anticipates will generate more defined EM conductors for drilling in the latter part of 2014.

“We are highly encouraged by the initial results generated from the geochemical program at the Merolia project,” Hibberd said.

“The prospective parts of the Merolia project extend over 80 kilometres and are along strike from the Rosie and Camelwood nickel sulphide discoveries to the north and the Mulga Tank nickel discovery to the south providing confidence that further strong results will be delivered as exploration progresses,”

Email: info@wcminerals.com.au

Website: www.wcminerals.com.au