THE DRILL SERGEANT: Thor Mining has hammered out some positive outcomes from drill core assay results from a resource development drilling program at the company’s Molyhil tungsten and molybdenum project, 220 kilometres northeast of Alice Springs.

Highlights from the drilling include:

–    16.4 metres at 0.84 per cent tungsten and 0.56 per cent molybdenum from 43.6 metres including, 2.6m at 0.94 per cent tungsten and 0.83 per cent molybdenum from 44.4m, and 4.0m at 2.12 per cent tungsten and 0.33 per cent molybdenum from 56.0m;

–    9.0m at 1.48 per cent tungsten & 0.10 per cent molybdenum from 48.0m including, 4.0m at 2.93 per cent tungsten and 0.17 per cent molybdenum from 48.0m; and

–    1.0m at 3.7 per cent tungsten and 0.36 per cent molybdenum from 19.0m, and 0.5m at 24.28 per cent tungsten and 0.77 per cent molybdenum from 31.7m.

 

Molyhil site with 2011 drill hole placements. Source: Company announcement

 

Thor said these results compare very favourably with the project’s historical resource grade of 0.32 per cent tungsten and 0.19 per cent molybdenum.

“These are very positive results and provide confidence that the value of the proposed Molyhil mining operation has potential to be enhanced,” Thor Mining chairman Mick Billing said in the company’s announcement to the Australian Securities Exchange.

“The assay grades from some of these intersections are substantially higher than the average grade of the resource.

“While a revised resources estimate has yet to be produced, and this is in process, we look forward to the outcome with keen anticipation.”

The two stage drilling program was carried out during July and August 2011 and comprised Reverse Circulation (RC) drilling to test for additional down plunge resource and diamond drilling designed to further enhance confidence in the near surface resource.
 
The 2011 Molyhil diamond drilling program was designed to test mineralisation previously defined by RC drilling to determine what difference (if any) there may be in results from the two drill methods.

The company said it expects the outcome of this work will enhance its confidence in the anticipated resource estimate.

With all data now to hand, a re-estimation of the Molyhil resource is underway and expected to be finalised before the year end.

THE DRILL SERGEANT: Northwest Resources has commenced a diamond drilling program at the Blue Spec and Golden Spec gold-antimony deposits located within the company’s Nullagine gold & antimony project in the eastern Pilbara of Western Australia.

The drilling program is set to undertake approximately 1,600 metres of diamond core drilling, which will be directed at the Blue Spec Upper Zone, the Blue Spec Remnant Zone, and Golden Spec deposits.

 

Blue Spec and Golden Spec gold-antimony deposits. Source: Company announcement

Northwest has previously reported Mineral Resources for the Blue Spec Upper Zone and Golden Spec deposits.

Blue Spec Upper Zone:

–    89,000 tonnes grading 42.5 grams per tonne gold for 122,000 ounces of gold and 2.61 per cent antimony for 2,300 tonnes antimony.

Golden Spec:

–    273,000 tonnes grading 8.5g/t gold for 75,000 ounces of gold and 0.84 per cent antimony for 2,300 tonnes antimony, including 49,000 ounces at 18 g/t gold.

The company has also outlined a Target Mineralisation for the Blue Spec Remnant Zone of 90,000 tonnes to 100,000 tonnes grading 14 g/t to 16 g/t gold for 40,000 ounces to 50,000 ounces of gold.

Northwest said it has designed the diamond drilling program to recover a total of approximately 250 kilograms of ore zone material from the three domains.

This will be used for the first stage of a detailed metallurgical testwork program.

“In addition to providing Northwest with information on gold and antimony recovery which will be used in process flow design evaluation and capital cost estimates, the metallurgical test work program is designed to produce sample gold-antimony floatation concentrates from each of the domains,” Northwest Resources said in its ASX announcement.

“Assay analysis of the metal content of the floatation concentrates will enable Northwest to advance its ongoing discussions with parties interested in potential gold-antimony concentrate off-take and smelting arrangements with the company.”

Northwest said it expects the drilling program will be completed in around two months with the metallurgical testwork program being undertaken at the same time.

The company anticipates it will have final testwork results ready around five weeks following the completion of the drilling program.

THE DRILL SERGEANT: Stanmore Coal has defined an initial JORC Inferred Resource of 95 million tonnes in the Gemini seam of the Rangal Coal Measures.

The Gemini coal seam was previously mined as a hard coking coal at BHP Billiton’s historical Leichhardt mine four kilometres to the west of the company’s Belview project.

The key seams, besides Gemini to have been identified and interpreted across the lease are the Aries, Orion and Pisces seams.

Source: Company announcement

Stanmore said it has further exploration planned to extend the Inferred Resource and to address core recovery issues it encountered in a number of the drill holes.

To date the Inferred Resource has been calculated from the Gemini seam only, based on testing of the central three holes of the initial six hole program completed in the western margin of the tenement.

The company said it anticipates being able to increase the initial JORC Inferred Resource once it has completed of further drilling.

Coal quality test work carried out on the three holes tested to date has led the company to consider the Gemini Seam capable of producing a dual product comprising a high quality hard coking and a low ash, high energy thermal coal.

Initial clean coal laboratory test results for the central three holes demonstrate a substantial improvement in coking properties from washing with a combined coking and thermal product yield of 90 per cent.

“These coal quality results put Belview coal at the premium end of the coking coal market with the potential to produce a prime hard coking product from seams of very clean coal that are up to six metres thick,” Stanmore Coal managing director Nick Jorss said in the company’s announcement to the Australian Securities Exchange.

“With the increasing scarcity of hard coking coal world-wide and existing shallower mines being depleted we believe that we have identified a very valuable deposit at Belview.

“We will continue resource definition drilling next year with the aim of establishing a substantial JORC compliant resource in the main target seams.

“We will also commission a third party mining study to investigate the potential project economics at Belview using modern mining methods.”

THE DRILL SERGEANT: Perth-based diversified exploration play Hemisphere Resources has announced the receipt of further encouraging results.

The results stem from a recently completed drilling program carried out on the company’s Yandicoogina South iron project.

The Yandicoogina project has a defined maiden JORC Indicated Resource of 4.3 million tonnes at 55.8 per cent iron.

The project is located six kilometres south of Rio Tinto’s Yandicoogina mine in the Pilbara region of Western Australia and according to Hemisphere represents a tributary of the Marillana Creek system.

 

Location of the Yandicoogina South Project. Source: Company announcement

 

Hemisphere Resources managing director Danny Costick said the aims of the recent drilling program were to test mineralisation in a tributary channel running south from the main Yandicoogina South ore body.

It was also set the tasks of testing the outcropping surface mineralisation the company had previously identified on hills around the existing Indicated Resource, and to infill gaps in the current drilling grid.

“Drilling at Yandicoogina South continues to return encouraging iron values, and each campaign adds to our growing understanding of the mineralisation,” Costick said in the company’s announcement to the Australian Securities Exchange.
 
“The latest results extend the known mineralisation and further extensions to the south require the grant of additional tenements that are currently under application.”

The company noted the surface rock chips recorded in the bedrock mineralisation were not replicated in the latest drilling.

It said this demonstrated the mineralisation to be a surface feature with no development at depth.

THE DRILL SERGEANT: Encounter Resources has identified a new large scale copper oxide position to the south of the BM1 prospect.

Broad spaced aircore drilling completed in October at the BM7 prospect has identified broad zones of copper/cobalt anomalism with a number of holes ending in mineralisation.

The BM1 and BM7 prospects are two of several prospects situated within the company’s 100 per cent-owned Yeneena project.

The Yeneena project covers 1300 square kilometres of the Paterson Province in Western Australia.

The targets Encounter has identified at Yeneena are located adjacent to major regional faults and have been located through electromagnetics, geochemistry and structural targeting.

 

Yeneena project leasing and targets areas. Source: Company announcement

The BM7 prospect is located 2.5 kilometres south of Encounter’s BM1 copper discovery and, according to the company, has extended the area of copper oxide mineralisation along the regionally extensive McKay fault to over 8km in strike.

“The eight kilometre long copper system includes the BM1 high grade copper discovery, the BM6 copper oxide position and the recent BM7 oxide discovery,” Encounter Resources said in its ASX nnouncement.

“Encounter controls a further eleven kilometres of strike along the McKay Fault to the south of the BM7 discovery.

“The location of the higher grade copper mineralisation along the McKay fault is coincident with the intersection of three identified north-east trending structures.”

The north-east trending structure at BM7, the Queen fault, is mineralised over 3.5km of strike and remains open along strike.

Encounter said the copper oxide mineralisation it has seen at BM7 is most extensive at the intersection of the Queen and McKay faults.

“At this location, the copper oxide anomalism in excess of 0.1 per cent copper extended over an area approximately one kilometre by 750 metres.

“It is also noted that the anomalism seen at this location often extends from the base of cover to the bottom of the aircore drill holes.”

Encounter has commenced a two hole diamond drilling program at BM7.

The first hole in this program tested a discrete electromagnetic conductor along the McKay fault in the north of BM7.

A zone of visible disseminated copper sulphide mineralisation was observed from a depth of 246m to 260m.

The company will now conduct a downhole EM survey to determine if the observed copper sulphides are associated with the modelled conductor.

The second diamond hole has commenced that the company anticipates to be completed within the next two weeks.