THE DRILL SERGEANT: Rox Resources (ASX: RXL) has completed a maiden Mineral Resource estimate for the Camelwood nickel sulphide deposit.

The deposit is part of the company’s Mt Fisher project and is located approximately 500 kilometres north of Kalgoorlie in Western Australia.

The resource estimate comprises 1.6 million tonnes at 2.2 per cent nickel containing 34,600 tonnes of contained nickel.

Rox said it was encouraging that 40 per cent of the resource estimate sits in the higher confidence Indicated Mineral Resource category, using a one per cent nickel lower cut-off.

At the higher cut-off grade of 2.5 per cent nickel the Mineral Resource contains 16,200 tonnes of nickel with approximately 47.5 per cent in the Indicated Mineral Resource category.

The resource at this higher cut-off grade is 520,000 tonnes at 3.1 per cent nickel.

“We are highly encouraged by the maiden resource estimate at Camelwood, which provides an excellent foundation on which the company can build,” Rox Resources managing director Ian Mulholland said in the company’s announcement to the Australian Securities Exchange.

“It shows that there is a significant amount of nickel sulphide mineralisation at Camelwood, which remains open in all directions, and which should increase with further drilling.

“Further drill testing of the Fisher East area is currently underway to explore for repeats of the Camelwood deposit.

“We remain confident that our exploration activities will unearth additional deposits across our extensive 655 square kilometre landholding at Mt Fisher.

“Deposits of the style of Camelwood do not typically occur in isolation.”

THE DRILL SERGEANT: St George Mining (ASX: SGQ) has formulated a new nickel exploration strategy for the company’s East Laverton Property in the northeast Goldfields of Western Australia.

The new exploration strategy comes with the consolidation of the nickel rights at the East Laverton Property after BHP Billiton Nickel West (ASX: BHP) informed the company it was walking away from the Farmin Agreement for Project Dragon.

The nickel targets already generated by Project Dragon will now be owned and controlled wholly by St George Mining, which the company indicated it will incorporate into a structured exploration program.

“The company has regained 100 per cent ownership of an emerging nickel mineral field, securing all the upside of any new discoveries for our shareholders,” St George Mining executive chairman John Prineas said in the company’s announcement to the Australian Securities Exchange.

“Project Dragon was an excellent means to advance through the initial high-risk stage of nickel exploration at East Laverton.

“St George will now move forward on the solid foundation built from almost $3 million of exploration work funded and conducted by a major mining company.

“The work that has been completed has unequivocally confirmed the presence of nickel sulphides at East Laverton.

“The technical merit of the project is outstanding and we have sound reasons to be very optimistic that a significant discovery is near.

St George believes it has learned a good deal in relation to the nickel prospectivity of the East Laverton Property since entering into the Project Dragon farm-in arrangement in early 2011.

During this time the company said it had exploration success in its own right at East Laverton, while at the same time obtaining valuable experience via Project Dragon.

“We are very excited to have consolidated 100 per cent ownership of this flagship asset which gives us the best opportunity to take advantage of its exciting potential through a concerted programme that we can control across the whole project area,” Prineas said.

“St George now has the rare exploration opportunity to make a discovery of global significance.”

THE DRILL SERGEANT: Sovereign Gold (ASX: SOC) has reported continued positive results from an exploration program currently underway at Hobbs Pipe 1, situated within the company’s  Mt Adrah Hobbs gold project in New South Wales.

The company has taken much encouragement form the results achieved from high-grade gold mineralisation intersected in drill hole GHD006.

Results from this hole include:

–    178 metres at 2 grams per tonne gold from 400 metres, within a broader zone of 826 metres at 1.3 grams per tonne gold from surface, also including 408 metres at 1.6 grams per tonne gold from 400 metres.

 

Typical high-grade core from hole GHD006 – this zone averaging approx. 2.5g/t gold. Source: Company announcement

 

“These results are very significant and show that parts of the deposit host significant gold grades well above the average grades of other bulk tonnage gold-bearing systems in the Lachlan Fold Belt,” Gossan Hill Gold Limited chief executive officer Dr Kris Butera said in the Sovereign Gold ASX announcement.
 
“Further intersections of such broad higher grade zones may significantly impact the overall grade and gold content within the deposit, potentially increasing the gold content per vertical metre and consequently the overall project economics.”

Sovereign Gold acquired an 87 per cent interest in private company Gossan Hill Gold Limited in early 2013.

Other recent drilling has included drill hole GHD007, which Sovereign Gold said had been designed to target the NE edge of Hobbs Pipe 1 near the surface, and then continue on to test the geology beneath historical anomalous hornfels metasediment hosted mineralisation.

According to the company the hole left Hobbs 1 pipe and entered into an altered and skarnified zone of hornfels characterised by semi-continuous zones of stockwork quartz veining.

Core has been sampled and sent for assay to determine whether there is enough gold mineralisation to warrant further investigation of its economic potential.

Drill Hole GHD008 was drilled to test the width of Hobbs Pipe 1 along strike, which indicated consistent mineralisation.

GHD008 is currently at a depth of approx. 500m and has continuously been in altered and mineralised monzodiorite.

Sovereign Gold explained this hole was designed to test the western edge of the pipe at depth, and to follow up on a broad higher-grade gold zone intersected previously in hole GHD006.

THE DRILL SERGEANT: Red Mountain Mining (ASX: RMX) has encountered high-grade gold mineralisation at the Pica epithermal gold target, on the Lobo prospect, situated within the company’s Batangas gold project, located south of Manila in the Philippines.

According to the company, diamond drilling (PC 07-13) has intersected a steeply dipping epithermal quartz-barite-sulphide vein and produced an intersection of:

–    2.5 metres at 9.2 grams per tonne gold, 28.4 grams per tonne silver, 8.6 per cent zinc from 97.9 metres downhole, including 1 metre at 14.2g/t gold, 38.6g/t silver, 9.5 per cent zinc.

“This is the best gold result achieved to date from the Pica target, and partially confirms the Exploration Target,” Red Mountain Mining managing director Jon Dugdale said in the company’s announcement to the Australian Securities Exchange.

“Further drilling along strike will aim to extend the mineralisation prior to defining a high-grade vein resource.”

Red Mountain explained that drilling it has completed to date at Pica has been focused on defining the extent and orientation of the high-grade vein system on one cross section, 9555N.

 

Pica Cross Section through PC 07-13 with epithermal gold-silver-base metal veins. Source: Company announcement

 

The company has now commenced further drilling 25m to the northeast along strike from the results described above, with the objective of extending the strike extent of the mineralisation and further confirming the Exploration Target announced in July 2012.

Previous surface mapping has traced the Pica structure, intermittently developed over a two kilometre strike length to the northeast and southwest.

THE DRILL SERGEANT: Millennium Minerals (ASX: MOY) recently reported assay results from RC drilling conducted at the Golden Gate (covering the Condor, Crow and Harrier deposits), within the company’s Nullagine gold project in Western Australia.

Millennium has recently commenced mining operations within the Golden Gate project area.

The company said results from the Condor deposit demonstrated multiple shallow, oxide intersections and ore-grade rock chip samples indicate excellent potential for substantial pit extensions along strike.

 

The Roadhouse spoke with Millennium Minerals managing director Brian Rear at the RIU Melbourne Resources Roundup. Watch here.

 

Gold intercepts include:

8 metres at 7.39 grams per tonne gold from 22 metres, including 2 metres at 24 grams per tonne gold from 23 metres;

8m at 3.95g/t gold from 71m; and

7m at 4.29 g/t gold from 76m.

At the Crow deposit, results indicated a new parallel lode located to the southwest of the existing
Crow deposit.

Millennium considers there to be potential for either an additional pit, or extension to the southwest of the existing Crow pit design.

Gold intercepts include:

5m at 3.70 g/t gold from 49m;

6m at 2.79g/t gold from 64m; and

3m at 4.52g/t gold from 50m, including 2m at 6.53 g/t gold from 50m.

At the Harrier deposit, results indicated gold mineralisation is still open to the northwest of the deposit, where the company believes there is potential for modest extensions to the current pit design in this area.

Gold intercepts include:

21m at 6.96g/t gold from 6m, including 3m at 20g/t gold from 8m and 19m at 2.51g/t gold from 39m.

The company has 2,300m of further RC drilling planned at the Condor, Crow and Harrier deposits.

The Nullagine gold project has a 1.30 million ounce gold Mineral Resource and 712,800 ounce Ore Reserve contained within seven deposit areas on granted mining leases.

The largest deposit is Golden Eagle located approximately 10km south of the township of Nullagine and containing 62 per cent of the total Mineral Resource inventory.

The gold processing plant has a capacity of 1.5 million tonnes per annum and at forecast head grade of 1.7g/t gold is targeted to produce 78,000 ounces of gold annually.