Hi Ho, Hi Ho, it’s off to work we go
THE DRILL SERGEANT: Each week any number of junior exploration plays set out to drill their ground. Here’s a small selection of what’s been happening this week.
Second drill rig to accelerate drilling program
Hot Chili (ASX: HCH) has an extensive drilling program underway to grow Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves at the company’s Productora copper project in Chile.
The initial drilling is focussing on a series of high-priority exploration targets within development distance of the Productora central pit area.
A number of regional targets have also been prioritised for drill testing as part of the first exploration drilling undertaken at Productora for more than 18 months.
Drilling activities are now set to accelerate with the addition of a second drill rig and the commencement of diamond drilling.
Woodlawn drilling commences
Heron Resources (ASX: HRR) has commenced its 2014 drilling program at the Woodlawn project, located in New South Wales.
The Woodlawn VMS system comprises 12 known massive sulphide lenses and these are the focus of the current drilling program.
The target is to delineate additional resources up and down dip in support of recommencing underground mining at Woodlawn, including the testing of the new Kate Lens, discovered in 2013.
The drilling program consists shallow RC drilling, and diamond drilling and is separated into four major components:
Shallow RC drilling to test the up-dip extension to known lenses;
Mid-depth diamond drilling targeting Kate Lens and other western lenses;
Limited deep drilling targeting I, I2, D and B Lenses; and
Geotechnical drilling for the box cut and access decline.
Resource drilling commencing at O Capitão gold project
Cleveland Mining Company (ASX: CDG) has mobilised a drill rig to commence an in-fill resource definition drilling program at the Dona Maria prospect, one of the two areas of mineralisation within the Cleveland-Premier Joint Venture’s O Capitão project in Goias State, Brazil.
The drilling is expected to take around six weeks to complete, and is aimed at defining an initial JORC compliant Mineral Resource sufficient to underpin the first 12 months of mining from Dona Maria.
In addition, a small ‘trial pit’ is being planned for the nearby “Lavra” prospect, which will be designed based on non-JORC compliant mineralisation due to the existence of an undefined level of historic Garimpeiro (artisanal) underground workings, which make it impractical to define a resource at this stage.
It is envisaged that a small open pit operation will clearly define the level of underground voids and allow for resource definition work to begin.
Drilling commenced at Simmons prospect
Australian Mines Limited (ASX: AUZ) has commenced diamond core drilling at the Simmons prospect, located within the company’s Marymia project area in Western Australia.
This drilling program follows completion of a ground-based electromagnetic (EM) survey over selected base metal targets across the Marymia project area, which detected a conductive body adjacent to an historic nickel-in-soil anomaly.
The initial drill program is anticipated to take one month to complete.
“The team at Australian Mines is very pleased with the results returned from the Simmons prospect to date, and we enthusiastically await the results from the current drill program,” Australian Mines managing director Benjamin Bell said.
“We also look forward to advancing our exploration over a number of other nickel and copper-gold targets recently identified across our Marymia project.”