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 begin exploration on their ground. Here’s a small selection of what’s been happening this week.

Drilling to commence at Symons Hill

Boadicea Resources (ASX: BOA) has received approval for the drilling program of work (POW) from the Department of Mines & Petroleum of Western Australia.

A contract for the clearing of tracks / drill lines has been awarded.

Unseasonal heavy rains in the Fraser Range have however temporarily delayed the commencement of the clearing.

A drilling contractor has also been engaged to complete a first pass aircore drilling program.

Subject to weather it is anticipated that drilling will commence on 17 March 2014.

Boadicea Resources’ Symons Hill licence in the Fraser Range is east of Norseman and approximately 200 kilometres south-east of Kalgoorlie in Western Australia and covers an area of 123 square kilometres.

The Licence is located immediately adjacent and on the north-east trend of the licence held by Sirius Resources (ASX: SIR), which contains the Nova/Bollinger nickel/copper discovery.

Drilling to commences at Crater Mountain’s HGZ project, PNG

Crater Gold Mining (ASX: CGN) has commenced a drilling program at the company’s High Grade Zone (HGZ) project at Crater Mountain, Papua New Guinea.

The drilling program will target the HGZ at Crater Mountain’s Nevera prospect, which is earmarked to commence gold mining later this year subject to a positive outcome from a mining lease application.

The objective of the drilling is to further delineate the zone to generate a measured resource prior to the commencement of production.

A first stage of approximately 1,800m of drilling comprising sixteen diamond drill holes will be drilled in four fans providing potential coverage for 80m strike and 100m of dip extension of the identified high grade mineralised zone.

A report by independent geological consultants, Mining Associates, suggests an exploration target for the High Grade Zone prospect based on selective underground mining of 50,000 to 250,000 tonnes at 13 to 30 grams per tonne gold for 60,000 to 100,000 ounces of contained gold.

“We are encouraged by previous underground development sampling which intersected bonanza gold grades, as well as high grades from our 2012 diamond drilling campaign,” Crater Gold Mining managing direct Greg Starr said.

“This is an exciting period for the company as we progress towards production and early cash flow generation.”

Drilling commences at Bong West

West Peak Iron (ASX: WPI) has commenced drilling at the company’s wholly-owned Bong West prospect in Liberia, West Africa.

The drilling will form part of a previously announced scoping study that has been commissioned to determine the economic viability of a small scale iron ore mining operation on this prospect area.

The program will build on data obtained from RC drilling completed early in
2013 on the Bong West prospect on the Eastern side of the tenement boundary and on the same stratigraphic unit as China Union’s recently recommissioned Bong Mine.

The diamond drilling for the current program will be limited to the Bong West prospect and aim to establish a resource to support 6 to 15 years of small scale mine life assuming an initial mining operation of approximately 100,000 tonnes per month.

Delivery of new combination drill rig

Cardinal Resources (ASX: CDV) has taken delivery of a recently-purchased new multi-purpose reverse circulation and diamond drill on site in Bolgatanga, Ghana.

Cardinal will begin its maiden drilling program on the Ndongo prospect, located within the Bolgatanga project.

The company-owned drill rig will enable Cardinal to carry out this program at direct cost rates typically up to 50 per cent less than independent contractor rates.

Maintenance, servicing and repairs will be carried out at the existing Bolgatanga base camp.

From Bolgatanga, Ghana, Managing Director Archie Koimtsidis said;

“To begin our maiden drilling program with a company-owned multi-purpose drill rig is a clear indication of the confidence we have in the Bolgatanga project tenement package.

“We are planning an initial 4,000 metres combined RC and diamond drill program at this first stage.

“The assay turn-around time from the SGS Laboratory in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, is expected to take approximately two weeks.

“We anticipate samples to be delivered on a weekly basis which will assist with quick analysis and reporting.

“We expect to complete this initial drilling program by the end of Q2 2014.”

Andy Well drilling campaign commences

Doray Minerals (ASX: DRM) has commenced a near-mine drilling campaign at the company’s 100 per cent-owned Andy Well gold project in Western Australia.

The reverse circulation (RC) drill program, to be executed over at least the next six months, will systematically test the Margaret and Kirsty Zones for the first time, as well as undertake further evaluation of the Suzie Zone.

“We’ve always believed that Andy Well has the potential to host a significant high-grade gold camp with multiple deposits,” Doray Minerals managing director Allan Kelly said.

“Up until now, we have been focussed on getting production from the Wilber
Lode up and running and subsequently paying down the project finance facility which we used to help build the project.

“We have literally only scratched the surface at Andy Well and hopefully the next few months drilling could result in a step change in the size of the resource base and, ultimately, the project mine life.”

Chanach exploration targets new copper-gold discovery

White Cliff Minerals (ASX: WCN) has designed its 2014 exploration program to test the potential depth and strike extent of the company’s new copper and gold discovery identified at Chanach in 2013.

The program will initially consist of a program of trenching surrounding the 2013 trenching results and will focus on defining the length, width, orientation and dip of the mineralised zones.

Once the trenching has defined the strike and dip of the mineralised zones follow up drilling will be conducted.

“The new Aucu copper-gold discovery adds some real excitement to the 2014 exploration program,” White Cliff Minerals managing director Todd Hibberd said.

“Results from the 2013 exploration campaign provided great encouragement, demonstrating the potential of the project to host multiple large scale copper-gold resources.

“The 2014 program will build on this work, testing the potential for a high grade copper-gold deposit, extending from surface at Chanach.”