THE DRILL SERGEANT: Trafford Resources (ASX: TRF) has claimed the discovery of a potential new tin province at the company’s 100 per cent-owned Wilcherry Hill and Peterlumbo tenements in South Australia.

Trafford said it was excited by the discovery of these new tin, particularly as the majority of the tin mineralisation is situated near surface.

The company believes this demonstrates the potential for multiple shallow tin deposits at Wilcherry Hill.

The prospects it has identified are located within the Wilcherry Hill and Peterlumbo tenements and include Weednanna, Weednanna North, Ultima Dam East, Ultima Dam West, Telephone Dam, Sunday Iron and Oxy’s Bore.

 

Locality of new tin prospects at Wilcherry Hill with significant tin
intercepts labelled over a colour shaded digital terrain model. Source:
Company announcement

 

The new prospects are in addition to the recent Zealous discovery, (7m at 3.28 per cent tin and 5m at 2.29 per cent tin).

Four of the deposits, in particular have pricked the company’s attention, these include:

Weednanna
20m at 0.26 per cent tin from 2m (with 6m at 0.50 per cent tin) and 3m at 0.61 per cent tin from 13m (including 1m at 1.14 per cent tin);

Telephone Dam
3m at 0.89 per cent tin from 30m;

Ultima Dam West
10m at 0.17 per cent tin from 6m (with 2m at 0.32 per cent tin) and

Oxy’s Bore
8m at 0.15 per cent tin (with 1m at 0.49 per cent tin).

Trafford has identified numerous previously drilled holes that have either not been tested or inappropriately tested for tin.

The company is now undertaking a regional scale re-assay program of 10,000 samples being prioritised for re-analysis for Tin.

Trafford explained to date, out of a total of 80,000 samples assayed at Wilcherry Hill, only 5,400 samples (7 per cent) have undergone any kind of analysis for tin.

Since the Zealous discovery last year, Trafford has been systematically re-evaluating its Wilcherry Hill prospects.
 
This has produced a total of forty-four plus-0.5 per cent tin intercepts and twenty-six tin intercepts greater than one per cent in eight holes.

A further seven holes have identified broad, continuous intersections with widths over 10 metres above a cut off of 0.1 per cent tin.

“Recently several follow up targets have been identified at Zealous,” Trafford said in its ASX announcement.

“Analysis of available ground geophysics, geochemistry and onsite geological mapping, has identified several possible targets in close proximity to Zealous.”

Website: www.traffordresources.com

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.

Browns Reef drilling commences

Kidman Resources (ASX: KDR) is poised to commence drilling at the Browns Reef prospect located in the Cobar basin of NSW.

“Since the Browns Reef project was opportunistically acquired earlier this year the technical team has undertaken a thorough review of the significant volume of historical data,” Kidman Resources managing director Shane Mele said.

“Further drilling is planned to verify this data and test the internal continuity of mineralisation so that we can proceed towards delivering a robust maiden JORC resource estimate by the end of 2014.

“Further to this, we have identified higher grade zones that remain open and require drill testing.

“These zones could potentially have a significant impact on improving the economic feasibility of the project.”

Drilling commences at Kharmagtai

Xanadu Mines (ASX: XAM) has commenced drilling at the Kharmgatai copper-gold porphyry project, located approximately 120km north of the Oyu Tolgoi copper project and 420km south‐southeast of Ulaanbaatar in Mongolia’s south Gobi region.

The Kharmagtai district consists of a cluster of porphyry prospects.

Previous exploration at Kharmagtai has delineated three shallow, gold-rich porphyry copper prospects at Altan Tolgoi, Tsagaan Sudal and Zesen Uul, and tested a number of other targets.

The mineralisation remains open at Altan Tolgoi and Tsagaan Sudal while Zesen Uul may represent an off‐faulted block from a larger system.

The drill program has been designed to test potential extensions to high‐grade mineralisation at the three prospects and identify new areas of adjacent mineralisation under shallow cover.

An initial 45 drill holes have been planned.

Drilling to commence on Narndee poly-metallic project

Maximus Resources (ASX: MXR) has received approval from the Department of Mines and Petroleum (DMP) in Western Australia for a 23 hole RC drilling program to further test its poly-metallic tenement 908 and commence testing of its 431 gold tenement on the company’s Narndee project.

The RC exploration drilling program is planned to commence mid-June with 10 holes on tenement E59/908 to test new poly-metallic targets identified during a recently completed Induced Polarization (IP) survey as well as to test previous targets.

Previous holes by Maximus intersected the targeted massive sulphide accumulations and showed vein type mineralisation in multiple samples.

This latest planned drill program aims to test these structures at depth and along strike.

On completion of the E59/908 drilling program, an additional 13 RC holes are planned to test historic gold targets.

Drilling underway at Firetower gold project

Unity Mining (ASX: UML) has diamond drilling underway at the Firetower gold project in Tasmania.

The Firetower project comprises four contiguous licences in central-north Tasmania and is subject to a Farm-In agreement with AIM-listed Greatland Gold, whereby Unity may earn a 75 per cent interest in via expenditure of $7 million.

During late 2013 and early 2014 a 3D IP ground geophysical survey was completed at the Firetower West prospect targeting copper/gold mineralisation in and around the edges of the Firetower West magnetic high.

This work followed holes drilled during 2007 and 2012 on the periphery of the anomaly which returned results including 1m at 2.65g/t gold from 97m and 1m at 0.58 per cent copper from 114m in hole FTD32, and 5m at 0.76 per cent copper from 57m including 1m at 1.44 per cent copper in hole FTD33.

Data from the 3D IP survey was modelled, which outlined a strong, relatively shallow and consistent zone of chargeability approximately 800m long and up to 400m wide.

The core of this zone will be tested with a single 300m deep diamond hole, FTD43 which is currently being drilled.

Drilling commences at Lumwana West

Argonaut Resources (ASX: ARE) has commenced the 2014 dry-season drilling program at the company’s Lumwana West copper project in Zambia.

This is the first program under the recently announced option agreement between Argonaut and a subsidiary of Antofagasta plc.

Under the agreement, a US$3.9 million exploration spend in the first year will earn Antofagasta a 25 per cent interest in the project.

The 2014 program was planned jointly by Argonaut and Antofagasta and aims to expand the known copper mineralisation at Lumwana West with focus on testing major targets previously defined in the project area by Argonaut.

“The Lumwana West project has enjoyed a remarkable technical history since exploration by Argonaut began in 2011,” Argonaut director Lindsay Owler said.

“In the course of two drilling campaigns, historical indications of copper mineralisation at Nyungu Central have been transformed into a significant deposit.

“The company has progressively refined several other major targets within the tenement including those at West Mwombezhi and Kavipopo.

“Additionally, potential repetitions and extensions to the Nyungu Central deposit have been defined.

“The drilling program, if successful, will catapult the project forward into an exciting phase where we seek to determine the limits of mineralisation and consider the priorities for resource drilling.”

THE DRILL SERGEANT: Redstone Resources (ASX: RDS) has identified five additional projects on the company’s 100 per cent-owned tenement (E69/2450) in the West Musgrave region of Western Australia.

The projects, which the company consider to all be prospective for IOCG and Mt Isa-style copper sediment-hosted deposits, are in addition to the existing Tollu project and are made up of:

The Atlas project, the Babylon project, the Pompeii project, the Pergamon project, and the Herculaneum project.

 

West Musgrave – project map. Source: Company announcement

 

“We are very pleased that the outcome of the work completed in the Stage 1 exploration program that resulted in a significant increase to the conceptual exploration target at the Tollu project, has also led to the identification of five new key projects on Redstone’s highly-prospective West Musgrave tenement E69/2450,” Redstone Resources chairman Richard Homsany said in the company’s announcement to the Australian Securities Exchange.

“As the final deliverable from the Stage 1 exploration program, these additional projects give the board further confidence that Redstone’s exploration on the tenement has been targeted and cost effective.

“Most importantly our work clearly demonstrates that, in addition to the high copper grades we have been reporting, there is the potential for the scale and volume necessary for sustainable commercial mining operations on Redstone’s tenement.

“This makes the projects attractive for financing exploration and development activities.”

Email: contact@redstone.com.au

Website: www.redstone.com.au

THE DRILL SERGEANT: Cleveland Mining Company (ASX: CDG) has drilled the first six holes into the CDG / BC Iron (ASX: BCI) Alliance Minas Novas iron ore project in Minas Gerais State, Brazil.

The company said all six holes intersected down-hole lengths of between 42 metres and 135m of itabirite style iron mineralisation within 5m from the surface.

The six holes were drilled over approximately 14 kilometres of strike and are the first to be drilled into a series of very large magnetic anomalies, in an area Cleveland described as having not been historically recognised to host iron ore.

The company considers the potential strike of the mineralisation, defined by the magnetic survey, of between 60 and 100km, could provide sufficient potential to create a new jurisdiction for iron ore should metallurgical properties of the material prove favourable.

 

Project location map. Source: Company announcement

 

“This is an excellent outcome,” Cleveland Mining managing director David Mendelawitz said in the company’s announcement to the Australian Securities Exchange.

“The geophysical signature associated with these first holes looks the same as the rest of the geophysical anomalies that have been identified across the project area.

“Clearly six holes without assays and met test work is not enough to confirm the economic potential of mining within the area, and we do expect to see variation in the grade across the unit, however the discovery of as much 100 kilometres of strike of a thick unit of what appears to be friable itabirite under our control provides a lot of potential to work with.”

Mendelawitz said the company’s management experience in Brazil and the global iron ore industry gives it confidence to recognise such discoveries are not only rare but are also potentially significant.

“To have large scale potential in a state that has a steel manufacturing industry and is only around 300 kilometres from the coast, in a region that has a supportive Government planning to build an open access railway line to a new port, creates a great starting point to develop a new iron ore province,” he said.

“Overlay this with Brazil’s profile as a low cost mining centre with an extensive labour pool of skilled mining professionals, particularly within the iron ore sector, and we may have the ingredients for a significant new iron ore business.”

Mendelawitz said Cleveland was not overly concerned with the recent musings over the iron ore price by analysts saying the company had deliberately established itself in a low cost jurisdiction.

“History shows that prices will always fluctuate, though those producers in the lowest quartile cost bracket will remain profitable,” he explained.

“Brazilian iron ore projects have a long history of demonstrating their potential to operate in this bracket.”

Email: investors@clevelandmining.com.au

Website: www.clevelandmining.com.au

THE DRILL SERGEANT: Hammer Metals (ASX: HMX) has received results from drilling recently conducted at the Overlander-Andy’s Hill project area, within the company’s Mt Isa project hub in Queensland.

The results have come from drill hole OVRC024, which was located between Overlander North and Overlander South.

Hammer claims to have intersected a significant zone of disseminated copper mineralisation in the footwall of the Overlander Shear Zone, which remains open at depth.

 

Overlander project with geology on magnetic image. Source: Company announcement

 

The company explained the drill hole was carried out to provide a preliminary test of the anomalous copper geochemical trend between Overlander North and South.

The drill hole intersected mineralisation with a four-metre composite sampling returning a 116 metre interval averaging 0.34 per cent copper Cu from 44 metres to the end of the hole at 160 metres.

One metre resplit samples will be submitted for assay shortly.

“These drilling results are proving the potential of Overlander and Andy’s Hill to host a major IOCG system, as well as shear-related copper-cobalt mineralisation as defined at Overlander North and Overlander South,” Hammer Metals executive director Alex Hewlett said in the company’s announcement to the Australian Securities Exchange.

“Hammer’s focus will be using geophysical techniques to focus further drilling.”

The copper mineralisation in drill hole OVRC024 occurs in a rhyolite unit in the footwall to the Overlander Shear which hosts Overlander North and Overlander South.

It is also where results from Hammer’s previous drilling campaign included:

Overlander North

OVRC002
14m at 2.62 per cent copper from 76m;

OVRC004
9m at 2.58 per cent copper from 49m; and

Overlander South.

OVRC 010
12m at 1.2 per cent copper from 31m.

OVRC024 was part of the 20 hole, 2090 metre RC drilling program recently completed at Overlander North and Overlander South as well as the Pelican, Serendipity and Python targets south of Kalman.

Most drill chip samples have now been submitted to the laboratory with assays for some four metre composites and one metre re-splits pending.

The results in OVRC024 are consistent with drilling results achieved by a previous explorer located 500 metres along strike to the south which extended into the footwall rhyolite at Overlander South.

Hammer considers these results combine to provide evidence for the existence of a large zone of alteration and disseminated copper mineralisation over a strike length of up to three kilometres in the Overlander area.

Hammer’s preliminary RC drilling at Overlander North where it has extended into the footwall sediments also intersected anomalous copper-gold mineralisation and associated red-rock alteration.

Final assay results are expected to be received for the RC program soon.

Email: info@hammermetals.com.au

Website: www.hammermetals.com.au