THE DRILL SERGEANT: Navarre Minerals (ASX:NML) has commenced a 2012/2013 drilling program at the company’s Tandarra gold prospect, located km north of Bendigo in Victoria.

Navarre has kicked of the program of air-core and diamond drilling at Tandarra with the aim of delineating the near surface extent of gold mineralisation within a four kilometre corridor along the trend of the established lines of reef.

Satellite image of part of the Tandarra prospect showing near
surface gold mineralisation trend and its projection to the north and
south. Source: Company announcement

Drilling will also test and confirm other regional targets the company has identified at Tandarra, Raydarra and Sebastian.

Navarre said the drilling at Tandarra will initially target the projected northern extension of established gold mineralisation.

This will include follow-up drilling to high-grade gold results the company intersected in a previous scout air‐core drill hole.

This previous drill hole recorded a peak result of 1 metre at 259.8 grams per tonne gold from 104m down-hole within an assay range of 3.1 grams per tonne gold to 259.8 grams per tonne gold.

The company has interpreted these results to indicate the presence of nuggety gold.

Navarre is also recently completed exploration activity on the Kingston gold project.

This work comprised Controlled Source Audio-Frequency Magneto Tellurics (CSAMT) and a trial induced polarisation geophysical survey, which the company anticipates to generate drill targets.

It is now conducting CSAMT surveys at the Sebastian gold project, which is the southern-most extension of the Tandarra prospect.

This is covering the projected trend of the Frederick the Great gold mine – a nine kilometre long corridor of potential gold mineralisation located under shallow Murray Basin cover, which has not been subject to previous exploration.

Navarre currently has a Share Purchase Plan open to raise up to $2.5 million.

Eligible shareholders have until 5pm (Melbourne time) this Friday 5 October to participate.

Proceeds from the SPP, together with cash on hand, will be used to fund the current exploration program and follow-up work.

THE DRILL SERGEANT: Drilling by KBL Mining (ASX:KBL) has extended the dimensions of a new copper-gold lode directly below the current development level of underground mining operations at the company’s Mineral Hill copper mine in New South Wales.

The latest results stem from an ongoing underground diamond drilling program at Mineral Hill, which according to KBL have revealed additional high-grade copper and gold mineralisation below the lowest development level.

The company explained this to be a new gold-rich style of base metal mineralisation contrasting to the currently mined copper–silver rich resources.

New results include:

–    4.55 metres at 5 per cent copper and 3 grams per tonne gold;

–    6.8m at 0.17 per cent copper and 5.9g/t gold; and

–    5.0m at 2.3 per cent copper.

KBL said the latest results have provided further support for its interpretation of copper–gold mineralisation extending more than 30 metres below the current development level at 1190 RL.

Plan view of underground drilling program (1190RL) and newly
discovered copper-gold lode beneath current development at Parkers Hill.
Source: Company announcement

“These results demonstrate that the mineralised lodes remain open at depth and along strike,” KBL Mining chief executive officer Trangie Johnston said in the company’s announcement to the Australian Securities Exchange.

“Underground drilling continues and visual logging of three recent holes is encouraging.

“We have also started a surface RC drilling program to better test the extent of this system.”

KBL has commenced underground drilling from a new location in order to target extensions of the copper-gold mineralisation encountered in recent underground development to the southwest.

A 1,000m RC drilling program from surface has also commenced to accelerate delineation of the copper-gold mineralisation southwest of the active underground workings and along strike from the underground drilling campaign.

THE DRILL SERGEANT: Having already extended Lens Nos. 1, 2, 3, and 4, at its 100 per cent-owned Nimbus silver-zinc-gold project, MacPhersons Resources (ASX:MRP) has now announced further successful drilling results.

The latest drilling results received by the company have shown both silver oxide and silver sulphide mineralisation continues between the Nimbus Discovery and East Pits.

Near Surface Lens 5 has been identified within the Optimised Pit Shell, with:

–    19 metres at 93 grams per tonne silver from 14m depth, including 10.0 metres at 151 grams per tonne silver from 15 metres.

MacPhersons said the New Lens 5 is only 14m below surface and represents a new source of oxide mill feed.

The company also confirmed a super high-grade intersection through re-assay in Lens 3 with averaged results:

–    28m at 896g/t silver from 200m depth, including 17m at 1427g/t silver, plus 26.3 per cent zinc, plus 4.7 per cent lead from 205m, which also included 11m at 1666g/t silver with highest 1m at 2550g/t silver.

The company said the intersection of 28m at 896g/t silver (25,088 gram-metres silver) is the first super high-grade intersection it has encountered outside of Lens No. 1 and shows that Lens No.3 has significant upside to further high grade lens extensions.

Recent drillholes showing the extensions to Massive Sulphide Lens
Nos. 2, 3, and 4 (Scale Grid is 100m squares). Source: Company
announcement

MacPhersons considers the re-assay results demonstrate the uniformity of the silver grade distribution and the new super high grade silver-zinc mineralisation in a second lens supports modelling that multiple lens targets exist at Nimbus.

This is first lens of this intensity of metal grade distribution, since the Discovery Lens No.1 was identified in 1990’s.

“The new Lens 5 mineralisation has been identified in the first drilling to the east of the East Pit and is entirely within the cutback proposed in the new optimised pit cutback,” MacPhersons Resources managing director Morrie Goodz said iin the company’s announcement to the Australian Securities Exchange.

“The combination of the new high grade extension to Lens No. 3 with the identification of Lens No. 5 is continuing to support the model of a single merged super pit.”

THE DRILL SERGEANT: International Goldfields (ASX:IGS) has completed an RC drilling program on the Ana prospect, located within the Latin gold project (IGS 93 per cent) in Mato Grosso, Brazil.

The company has received results for an additional 12 RC holes, which it said has confirmed gold mineralisation for 1,000 metres.

Ana prospect: drill and rock chip location map, with significant RC
intercepts (green labels) and diamond intercepts (yellow labels).
Source: Company announcement

IGS said the mineralisation is centred on a 300m long high grade shoot defined in earlier diamond drilling that intersected 21m at 5.9 grams per tonne gold, including 8m at 13.6g/t gold, and 18m at 3.24g/t gold.

Better intercepts in the recent four-metre composite sampling results include:

–    12 metres at 1.11 grams per tonne gold from surface on a 200 metres west step-out on the PF quartz  vein zone;

–     12m at 1.10g/t gold from 44m, including 4m at 2.06g/t gold located 650m east along trend of PF vein zone mineralisation.; and

–    4m at 2.41g/t gold and 4m at 2.17g/t gold located on new sub-parallel mineralised zone.

IGS has now received assays on the first 3,137m of drilling of the 4,779m drill campaign that has tested six target areas within the 2.5 kilometres by 4 kilometres surface gold anomaly.

IGS has also completed seven diamond drill holes with all holes intersecting quartz veining and sulphide, which it claims to be visually analogous to previous mineralised diamond intercepts.

“Four of the potentially mineralised intercepts target down-dip extensions of the PF Quartz Vein zone,” International Goldfields said in its ASX announcement.

“The four holes test the extents of the 300 metres long high grade shoot interpreted from drilling results received to date.

“The deeper diamond drilling indicates strong potential for a steep east plunge to the high grade zone to extend at depth, with the easternmost hole intersecting a 24 metre wide interval from 138.2 metres depth containing both pyrite and chalcopyrite sulphides within the interval, and abundant quartz veining and quartz-healed breccia textures within the broader zone of sheared granites and dolerite dyke rocks.”

IGS said an additional three holes have intersected sulphides and quartz veining on further extension drilling along strike to the west, which the company considers has the potential to further extend the mineralised trend beyond the one kilometre extent it has been able to confirm with RC drilling results it has received to date.

THE DRILL SERGEANT: Diamond drilling being carried out by Peel Mining (ASX: PEX) at the company’s Mallee Bull copper-polymetallic discovery has returned further copper-polymetallic sulphide intercepts, which the company said confirms the strike continuation of deeper mineralisation.

The latest drilling results follow a previously identified cumulative intercept (hole MBDD002) of 72 metres at 2.11 per cent copper, 41 grams per tonne silver, 1.13 grams per tonne gold, 384 grams per tonne cobalt (3.51 per cent copper equivalent).

Recent highlights include:

MBDD003 (drilled 60m north of MBDD002) returned a cumulative intercept of 36m at 1.58 per cent copper, 48 g/t silver, 0.43 g/t gold, 132 g/t cobalt (2.52 per cent copper equivalent ) comprising three zones of strong copper-dominant sulphide mineralisation:

–    10m at 1.12 per cent copper, 47 g/t silver, 0.95 g/t gold, 377 g/t cobalt (2.47 per cent copper equivalent ) from 367m;

–    12m at 1.58 per cent copper, 39 g/t silver, 0.14 g/t gold, 39 g/t cobalt (2.18 per cent copper equivalent ) from 386m; and

–    14m at 1.92 per cent copper, 56 g/t silver, 0.30 g/t gold, 37 g/t cobalt (2.85 per cent copper equivalent ) from 409m.

MBDD004 (40m south of MBDD002) returned a thick zone of copper-dominant sulphide mineralisation comprising:

–    42m at 1.01 per cent copper, 23 g/t silver, 0.91 g/t gold, 250 g/t cobalt (1.99 per cent copper equivalent ) from 356m, including 4m at 2.53 per cent copper, 30 g/t silver, 0.38 g/t gold, 265 g/t cobalt (3.26 per cent copper equivalent ) from 384m.

MBDD005 (40m south of MDD002) swung substantially off-section to the south, however still returned several zones of strong copper-dominant sulphide mineralisation comprising:

–    5m at 1.75 per cent copper, 31 g/t silver, 0.21 g/t gold, 110 g/t cobalt (2.33 per cent copper equivalent ) from 414m; and

–    5m at 1.44 per cent copper, 68 g/t silver, 0.34 g/t gold, 46 g/t cobalt (2.56 per cent copper equivalent ) from 421m.

Source: Company announcement

“These assay results confirm broad, strong copper-polymetallic mineralisation at deeper levels within Mallee Bull and add gravitas to the excellent results returned from MBDD002,” Peel Mining managing director Rob Tyson said in the company’s announcement to the Australian Securites Exchange.

“The verification of along strike continuity provided by these results is further proof of Mallee Bull’s pedigree as an important copper discovery.”

Peel said drilling at Mallee Bull is continuing with vertical drillhole MBDD007 currently underway and designed to serve as a platform for downhole EM and wedging/navi-drilling of deeper targets.

The company said the drilling it had completed to date indicates high-grade copper-dominant polymetallic sulphide mineralisation at Mallee Bull to a strike length of approx. 120m, to within 150m of surface, and now extends to at least 400m below surface and is open in multiple directions including at depth.