THE DRILL SERGEANT: White Rock Minerals has received high-grade silver assays from follow‐up drilling at the Mozart prospect, situated on the company’s Mt Carrington gold‐silver project near Drake in northern New South Wales.

The Mozart prospect is located adjacent to the existing 730,000 ounces of gold‐equivalent Resource base on the Mt Carrington project.

It also just 250 metres south of the 1.2 million ounce silver Resource at Silver King and 800 metres south of the eight million ounce silver Resource at Lady Hampden in the company’s central mining leases.

Location of Mozart prospect, Silver King and Lady Hampden Resources,
and recently completed drill holes and significant results. Source:
Company announcement

The definition of silver Resources at Lady Hampden and Silver King in 2011 encouraged White Rock to re‐evaluate previous limited percussion drilling it had carried out 500m to the south of Silver King, which intersected surface silver mineralisation.

White Rock said the latest drilling had intersected silver mineralisation of a higher tenor than the discovery drill hole the company had reported in May.

A highlight of the latest round was an intersection of:

–    26.5 metres at 220 grams per tonne silver from 133.3 metres, including 12.7 metres at 381 grams per tonne silver from 133.3 metres.

Further step‐out drilling at Mozart is currently underway. White Rock indicated Mozart is one of a number of priority near‐mine and regional exploration targets it has scheduled for drilling in 2012.

“We are excited by the new results at the Mozart discovery, and we believe the recent silver intersections in excess of seven ounces of silver per tonne indicate potential for a substantial shallow deposit which could positively impact on the development profile of the Mt Carrington Resource base,” White Rock Minerals managing director Geoffrey Lowe said in the company’s announcement tot the Australian Securities Exchange.

“Mozart is the first of a number of targets to be drill tested within one kilometre of the existing Resources, which indicates fantastic potential for continued up‐scaling of the project.”

White Rock has Scoping Studies well underway on the shallow Resource base and said it expects initial model parameters to be delivered in July.

It also said there was more definitive metallurgical test work proceeding early in the third quarter of this year as a prelude to feasibility studies and development decisions in 2013.

THE DRILL SERGEANT: Alara Resources has received results it claims to have confirmed potential for thick mineralisation at high grade from an ongoing drilling program at the company’s Washihi copper-gold joint venture project in Oman.

The company has completed nine diamond core holes of its Phase 1 of resource definition drilling have to date.

Highlights of the program so far include:

–    72 metres at 1.3 per cent copper, 0.15 grams per tonne gold; and

–    18m at 1.4 per cent copper, 0.21g/t gold.

The ongoing drilling program is targeting an extension of the mineralisation to the northwest and south east of the Washihi prospect.

Drill-hole Locations at the Washihi copper-gold project. Source: Company announcement

“These drilling results are very encouraging and provide further visibility around the potential project size and economics of the Washihi project,” Alara Resources managing director Shanker Madan said in the company’s announcement to the Australian Securities Exchange.

“We look forward to delivering a JORC compliant estimate for both the Washihi and Daris East prospects by the end of September as well as the commencement next month of Hydrogeological and Environmental Studies.”

As part of Alara’s broader strategic objectives in Oman, the company has recently initiated a Scoping Study for an integrated mining and processing facility, which will include Washihi combined with its Daris and Mullaq prospects.

THE DRILL SERGEANT: Dart Mining has been encouraged by the receipt of assay results from three additional holes it has completed as part of a current resource upgrade drilling program at the company’s Unicorn molybdenum-copper-silver porphyry deposit in northeast Victoria.

The drilling has returned porphyry intersections up to 30m at 0.18 per cent molybdenum equivalent, which the company said are associated with copper mineralisation (20m at 0.7 per cent) that has been identified in the northern part of the deposit.

Dart has completed 19 drill holes of an expanded 20 hole program so far.

The company said laboratory assay results it has received to date, including intersections up to 178m at 0.06 per cent molybdenum equivalent, have highlighted the potential to extend the deposit to the south and east beyond the current conceptual pit boundary with breccia surrounding the Unicorn porphyry.

“The surrounding breccia, which is not included in the current JORC resource estimate, appears to contain consistent grades of molybdenum, copper, silver,” Dart Mining managing director Lindsay Ward said in the company’s announcement to the Australian Securities Exchange.

“These results also suggest the conceptual pit design should have a very low strip ratio which could greatly benefit the economics of the Unicorn deposit.

“These additional assay results confirm Dart Mining’s confidence that the Resource upgrade drilling is progressing to plan.

“The current drilling program will be completed by early July with the Resource upgrade planned for release during the third quarter 2012.”

Drill hole plan – Resource upgrade drilling program. Source: Company announcement

According to Dart DUNRC005 (see above) has closed up the current drill spacing within the Resource model and confirmed the silica cap and upper porphyry stock work system is strongly mineralised with average drill grade at or above the October 2011 JORC Indicated Resource.

DUNRC005 intersected:

252m at 0.06 per cent molybdenum equivalent, including 126m at 0.08 per cent molybdenum equivalent from surface.

DUNRC007 was designed to test the extent of mineralisation in the previously undrilled northern breccia that surrounds the main porphyry deposit.

DUNRC007 intersected:

252m at 0.06 per cent molybdenum equivalent, including 54m at 0.08 per cent molybdenum equivalent from surface.

Dart indicated this result highlights potential for a significant Resource upgrade as the mineralised breccia was not included in the October 2011 JORC Resource.

Dart also said hole DUNRC008 highlighted the increase in copper within the northern part of the deposit with 108m at 0.20 per cent copper with zones showing up to 20m at 0.7 per cent copper.

Overall the hole intersected:

186m at 0.06 per cent molybdenum equivalent from surface, including up to 30m at 0.18 per cent molybdenum equivalent from 14m depth within the porphyry.

THE DRILL SERGEANT: Drilling being conducted by Northern Star Resources at the company’s Paulsens gold mine in Western Australia has intersected, what the company described as “significant high-grade gold”.

The intersection was encountered approximately 150 metres down plunge from the known limits of the orebody at Paulsens via surface drilling.

Results of note include (downhole lengths):

–    1.1 metres at 30.7 grams per tonne gold  from 330 metres, including 0.43 metres at 63.5 grams per tonne gold; (the deepest intercept in the history of the mine)

–    0.3m at 40.8g/t gold from 410m;

–    2.7m at 1.7g/t gold from 340m; and

–    3.3m at 1.3g/t gold from 335m.

Northern Star said the results of up to 63.5gpt demonstrate potential to grow the resources, reserves and mine life at Paulsens.

The intersections were the first in a deep drilling campaign being conducted by the company,  which is aimed at extending the life of the Paulsens mine to between seven and ten years.

Northern Star has already started drilling the next “parent hole” in this program, which is another 200m down plunge from the first one.

The program involves drilling parent holes from surface at distances of about 200m apart down plunge.

A series of “daughter holes” can then be drilled at angles from the parent holes.

Long section view of Paulsens mineralisation and surface deep drilling. Source: Company announcement

The company said it considered the results to be strong evidence the current drilling program had the potential to be a “game-changer”.

It claimed this confidence was supported by the third daughter hole from the first parent hole, which intersected 13m of quartz.

“We committed the company to this program because the potential return for Northern Star is so substantial,” Northern Star managing director Bill Beament said in the company’s announcement to the Australian Securities Exchange.

“These initial results point to the Paulsens orebody continuing for about 150 metres down plunge of the existing known parameters.

“The second parent hole is stepped-out about another 200 metres down plunge and plans are underway for a third and fourth.

“This is an aggressive strategy with significant upside for Northern Star due to the opportunity to add vast amounts of gold and therefore longer mine life which may result.”

Northern Star revealed last week that its push to increase both the mine life and profit margins at Paulsens had received a significant boost from a series of high-grade results at the flagship Voyager 1 lode.

THE DRILL SERGEANT: Perth-based exploration company Laconia Resources has been granted $150,000 in funding for its 701 Mile project in a co-funding arrangement under the Western Australia State Government Exploration Incentive Scheme.

Laconia will be required to match the $150,000 funding grant on a dollar-for-dollar basis on direct drill spending at 701 Mile.

The company is delighted by this further recognition of the prospectivity of the 701 Mile project and the further validation of its innovative exploration programs conducted on the project to date,” Laconia Resources said in its ASX announcement.

Drilling to be conducted by Laconia this year at 701 Mile entails an expansion to its auger drill coverage as well as an infill auger drill program.

It will then undertake geophysical surveys over the most promising areas.

The co-funded drill testing of coincident geochemical and geophysical targets has been scheduled for the second quarter of 2013.

701 Mile Silver anomalism and fill auger drilling targets May 2012. Source: Company announcement

The 701 Mile project consists of two granted exploration licences covering a contiguous area of 342 square kilometres, located approximately 80 kilometres southeast of Newman in WA.

Laconia has 100 per cent interest in all minerals other than manganese and iron.

According to the company the region hosts a number of significant discoveries, which include base metals deposits at ‘Kumarina’ and ‘Abra’, as well as basement-hosted gold at ‘Karlawinda Bore’.

Laconia’s exploration programs at the 701 Mile project to date (auger geochemical programs, geological mapping and aeromagnetic interpretation) indicate that the project has considerable potential for various mineralisation styles.

These include:

–    Copper-nickel-platinum group elements sulfide mineralisation associated with the basal sections of large mafic sills;

–    Structurally controlled polymetallic lodes and veins associated with faults and the margins of mafic intrusives;

–    Rare Earth Element deposits in discrete alkaline intrusives; and

–    Gold developed at depth in basement Archaean greenstones.