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.
Julius gold discovery drilling
Echo Resources (ASX: EAR) has commenced a Reverse Circulation (RC) drilling program at the Julius gold discovery.
The Julius gold discovery is located in the Yandal Gold Province, approximately 750 kilometres northeast of Perth, Western Australia.
The drilling program will test for potential extensions to high-grade gold mineralisation located in step-out RC drill holes collared 300m west of the main drilling area at Julius, which yielded intercepts of:
16m at 19.8 grams per tonne gold from 276m, including 4m at 75.6g/t gold (ERC222)
5m at 21.6g/t gold from 235m, including 3m at 35g/t gold
(ERC186)
The drilling will also be testing for near-surface gold lodes in central and north-eastern parts of the mineralised system, which recently yielded RC drill intercepts of:
19.1m at 8.1g/t gold from 49m, including 5m at 21.7g/t gold
(ERCD208)
44m at 3.8g/t gold from 24m, including 4m at 29g/t gold
(ERC217)
24m at 5.3g/t gold from 44m, including 4m at 22.6g/t gold (ERC212)
Duckhead mining resumes
Beadell Resources (ASX: BDR) announced the temporary suspension to carry out mining at Duckhead has been lifted with mining activities resuming immediately.
The company also said step out exploration drilling of the Duckhead high-grade main lode is now underway.
The company said production guidance and costs at Duckhead for CY 2014 remains unchanged at 200,000 to 220,000 ounces of gold with cash costs of US$535 to $585 per ounce (including royalty and by-product credits), well within the lowest cash cost quartile globally.
Diamond drilling underway at Red Bore
Thundelarra (ASX: THX) has commenced a diamond drilling program at the company’s 90 per cent-owned Red Bore prospect (M52/597) in the Doolgunna region of Western Australia.
The program has two main objectives, the first of which is to obtain core samples through and beyond the known mineralisation so that orientation data may be collected to allow the structural and lithological controls on the mineralisation to be identified and re-interpreted.
This information will allow a better understanding of the geometry of the mineralisation and help in targeting possible extensions and/or repetitions.
The second objective is to obtain a continuous core sample from a deep hole in the north-west part of the tenement that will assist in identifying the local geological controls in that area and thus generate some understanding of any potential for repetitions to or extensions of the DeGrussa mineralisation, particularly the Conductor 5 deposit.
Millers Creek magnetic survey completed
Monax Mining (ASX: MOX) has completed a heli-borne magnetic survey on the Millers Creek designated project, located within the Woomera Prohibitive Area (WPA) in South Australia.
The Millers Creek DP is a joint project between the company and its strategic alliance partner, a wholly-owned subsidiary of major Chilean copper producer Antofagasta plc, via Monax’s own wholly-owned subsidiary, Monax Alliance Pty Ltd.
The Millers Creek DP comprises three Alliance tenements together with four Maximus Resources (ASX: MXR) tenements totalling 3165 square kilometres.
Modelling of the magnetic and the recently acquired detailed gravity data will be carried out, after which the results will be presented to the Monax: Antofagasta Technical Committee for a decision to drill.