THE DRILL SERGEANT: Integra Mining has reported drilling results carried out at the Imperial prospect situated on the Majestic area of the company’s Randalls gold project in Western Australia.

The diamond drill hole was undertaken to provide the company with structural information on mineralisation identified by previous drilling, which included 19 metre at 4.39 grams per tonne gold.

The latest drilling has also returned high-grade results, including:

–    6.2m at 13.43 grams per tonne gold and 1.5 per cent copper; and

–    2m at 31.1 g/t gold and 1.3 per cent copper.

 

Imperial drill section schematic. Source: Company announcement

 

The results have provided Integra with the motivation to re-assay the previous hole for copper as this was not done in the previous submission.

The Imperial prospect is located 500m from the Majestic gold prospect.

Integra said the gold mineralisation at Imperial is hosted within the same granodiorite unit hosting Majestic and appears to be associated with a similar series of porphyry dykes.

“The true width of the mineralised zone cannot be determined with the limited drill data available, Integra Mining said in its ASX announcement.

“Mineralisation at the Imperial prospect is open along strike to the north where shallow WMC-era RC drilling intercepted two metres at 1.8 grams per tonne gold from 52 metres to bottom of hole, and to the south where there is no RC drilling for some 200 metres.”

THE DRILL SERGEANT:  Sydney-based Gold Anomaly has received results from a recently deep-drilled NEV027 carried out at the Nevera prospect situated within the company’s Crater Mountain gold project in Papua New Guinea.

The company said the highlight of the results has been the identification of deep porphyry at 1046 metres depth.

Gold Anomaly said the top 1,046m of the hole averages 0.25 grams per tonne gold with  no Cut Off Grade (COG) applied, which the company claims can be separated into a number of significant zones of 0.25 g/t to 1.0 g/t gold if a COG of 0.20g/t gold.

 

Crater Long section showing intervals of mineralisation. Source: Company announcement

 

The results from hole NEV027 differ from earlier drill holes conducted at the prospect in the demonstration of gold mineralisation to a depth of more than 1,000m before terminating against what the company describe to be as a strongly veined but non‐gold‐bearing apophysis (peripheral arm potentially comprising a separate phase) of a major deep intrusion.

Gold Anomaly said the latest results are the deepest it had intersected gold at Crater Mountain and they highlight the size of the mineralisation and alteration systems at the Nevera prospect.

“The extent of the mineralisation and alteration seen in NEV027 further confirms our belief that the mineralisation system we are seeing at Nevera is very extensive and we are making significant steps in our understanding of the geology of this prospect which will aid us with our future drilling programs,” Gold Anomaly exploration director Peter Macnab said in the company’s announcement to the Australian Securities Exchange.

“The mineralising system we are seeing at Nevera is very similar to prototype porphyry copper and copper/gold systems seen around the world with a large central intrusion surrounded by variably mineralised multiple porphyry apophyses, sitting at the base of a large mineralised hypothermal system with multiple mineral deposits, and this bodes well for future drilling.”

THE DRILL SERGEANT: Recently-completed drilling carried out by Empire Resources has confirmed deeper copper-gold mineralization at the company’s A Zone prospect, situated within its Yuinmery copper-gold project, located 80 kilometres southwest of Sandstone in Western Australia.

Intersections from two RC drill holes returned assays from approximately 200 metres and 220 metres vertically below surface.

These included:

–    10 metres at 1.8 per cent copper, 0.87 grams per tonne gold from 222 metres, including 6 metres at 2.6 per cent copper, 1.05 grams per tonne gold from 222 metres; and

–    12m at 1.8 per cent copper, 0.46g/t gold from 240m, including 7m at 2.2 per cent copper, 0.56g/t gold from 241m.

Empire claimed the mineralization to be still open at depth.

 

Yuinmery project location map. Source: Company announcement

 

The company said the drilling is part of ongoing RC and diamond drilling programs it is currently undertaking in order to test a number of Volcanogentic massive sulphide (VMS) targets at Yuinmery.

“These latest copper intersections confirm the potential of the A Zone prospect at Yuinmery,” Empire resources managing director David Sargeant said in the company’s announcement to the Australian Securities Exchange.

“They show the tenor of mineralization increasing with depth beyond 200 metre vertical depth, which is consistent with our view that A Zone is part of a major mineralized system.

“This will be further tested by deeper drilling in the area next year.

“The attractive intersections of good copper and gold grades together with the known mineralisation at Just Desserts, reinforces our belief that the region has the potential to host a number of significant VMS mineralised zones.”

THE DRILL SERGEANT: Ausgold received a pleasant stocking-stuffer in the form of assay results from a RC drilling program undertaken at its Yamarna project, located in central Western Australia.

Two holes carried out at the company’s Winchester copper-nickel discovery returned significant copper, nickel and cobalt intervals, reported as copper equivalent values:
 
–    21 metres at 1.24 per cent copper equivalent from 88 metres; and

–    28m at 1.16 per cent copper equivalent from 99m.

 

Winchester prospect discovery section, with significant intersections. Source: Company announcement

 

The recent drilling was designed to follow up a discovery hole drilled in late 2010.

An additional reconnaissance hole undertaken at a separate target returned:

–    153m at 0.1 per cent nickel from 5m.

Ausgold is of the opinion these results from Yamarna are significant in terms of early first pass drilling results as they demonstrate potential for the area to host multiple copper-nickel-cobalt sulphide and nickel sulphide deposits.

“The results from the work our field team has been undertaking at Yamarna confirms the potential we believe for this project to host a significant copper-nickel-cobalt discovery,” Ausgold chairman Robert Pett said in the company’s announcement to the Australian Securities Exchange.

“Whilst the Katanning gold discovery remains our key focus, we have a number of other projects within our portfolio that warrant further exploration – as these latest results clearly demonstrate.”

Ausgold started drilling the eight hole program at Yamarna in September focussing on three main areas, specifically the Winchester deposit and two electromagnetic (EM) anomalies – Yam09 and Yam19.

Drilling was completed by November with all eight holes cased for downhole EM testing.

Ausgold is now awaiting final results from the program.

Assays received for the first six of the eight holes have returned results including:

–    21m at 0.63 per cent copper, 0.20 per cent nickel, and 0.02 per cent cobalt (1.24 per cent copper equivalent) from 88m; and

–    28m at 0.50 per cent copper, 0.21 per cent nickel, and 0.02 per cent cobalt (1.16 per cent copper equivalent) from 99m.
 
Ausgold said it intends to drill adjacent sections at Winchester during the 2012 field season to determine the extent of the mineralising system.

The company said it believes recent work at Yamarna has enhanced the prospectivity of the immediate area and region for copper-nickel-cobalt and nickel Sulphide mineralisation.

THE DRILL SERGEANT: The festive season kicked off early for copper-gold-focused exploration company Coppermoly with the first ever diamond drillhole sunk into the company’s Nakru-4 prospect in Papua New Guinea.

The hole intersected 22 metres grading 0.21 grams per tonne gold and 0.15 per cent copper from 9 metres depth.

This included a one metre interval of 1.54 g/t gold and 1.17 per cent copper in telluride.

The hole was drilled 800m northwest of the company’s Nakru-1 prospect and was completed to a depth of 271.9m.

“Results confirm the presence of widespread copper and gold mineralisation at depth which warrants further drilling to test for tonnage potential,” Coppermoly said in its ASX announcement.
 
“A number of other prospects within the Nakru exploration licence, including other geochemical and geophysical targets, are yet to be drill tested.”

The Nakru-4 prospect is situated within the northern extent of a 600m by 1400m historical gold in soil anomaly which extends from the south-western portion of the Nakru-1 copper-gold system.

 

Location of Coppermoly tenements. Source: Company announcement

Previous drilling at Nakru-1 recorded an interval of 23.5m grading 2.38 g/t gold and 1.30 per cent copper from 87.3m depth, including 1m grading 42 g/t gold and 4.6 per cent copper at 99m depth.

“The Nakru-1, 2, 3 and 4 prospects occur as a cluster of copper-gold-zinc breccia related mineralisation,” Coppermoly said.

“The Nakru-1 system exhibits an overprinting of epithermal gold, while both the Nakru-1 and Nakru-2 systems show characteristics similar to volcanogenic massive sulphide deposits.

“Further drilling will be required to define the extent of mineralisation within these four prospect areas as well as test the other geophysical and geochemical targets.”