Hi Ho, Hi Ho, it’s off to work we go

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THE DRILL SERGEANT: Companies getting busy on the drill bit this week include Encounter Resources, Apollo Minerals, Ventnor Resources, and Core Exploration.

Drilling Commences under Antofagasta Earn-in Agreement

Encounter Resources (ASX: ENR) announced the commencement of aircore/RC drilling at the Lookout Rocks copper project in Western Australia.

Lookout Rocks includes four tenements (approx. 450sqkm) of prospective, untested exploration ground located in the north-west of Encounter’s Yeneena project.

Exploration at Lookout Rocks is being conducted as part of the new US$6 million earn-in agreement with Antofagasta Minerals Perth.

Encounter completed a detailed helicopter based VTEM survey over a large portion of Lookout Rocks in 2014.

Interpretation of the data from this survey, in conjunction with detailed aerial photography, has outlined a tightly folded, NNW trending belt of Broadhurst Formation sediments offset by interpreted NNE trending structures.

Encounter said these are considered to be similar to the host units of the Nifty copper deposit located 25km to the north.

Drilling under the new Lookout Rocks earn-in agreement will provide initial subsurface geochemistry at key structural locations identified at Lookout Rocks.

First assays from the drilling are expected to be received in September 2015.

Fraser Range Exploration

Apollo Minerals (ASX: AON) has commenced drilling following a detailed review of its Fraser Range data-set and a work program including high-powered EM surveys.

The review of the data covering several identified targets across active tenements at the company’s Fraser Range project in Western Australia identified over ten priority targets, and ranked the Plato and Oceanus prospects as highly prospective and warranting immediate exploration, including ground based high powered EM, RAB and RC/diamond core drilling.

Other target areas are to be systematically explored in subsequent exploration programs.

Drilling at Black Dragon

Ventnor Resources (ASX: VRX) has commenced drilling at the company’s Black Dragon gold project in Western Australia.
 
The drill program is to follow up preliminary exploration carried out on an initial field trip which produced high-grade rock chip assays for gold, silver and tellurium.

“The program has been designed to test the potential for a new style of mineralisation in this exciting gold region and to investigate the strike, dip and plunge components of the prospect,” Ventnor said.

Approximately 2,000 metres of RC drilling to a nominal depth of 60 metres will be conducted as part of the program.

Results are expected in early September 2015.

Drilling Big-J at Jervois Domain

Core Exploration (ASX: CXO) has received full approvals to commence a maiden RC drilling program at the company’s Jervois Domain project in the Northern Territory.

The company has identified 14 potential drill targets on its 100 per cent‐owned Jervois Domain tenements by geophysical modelling and surveys.

Core, along with project research partner CSIRO, have analysed geophysical surveys to confirm multiple magnetic, conductive and chargeable features at large prospect scale within the Big‐J target zone.

The first drilling program on Core’s tenure is planned to comprise traverses of shallow RC vertical holes over prospective target zones and specific high priority geophysical targets Specific targets (A1 to G1) have been modelled on a series of sections along the strike length of the Big‐J curve target zone.