On The Drill Bit
THE DRILL SERGEANT: Companies getting busy to get drilling this week include, Alloy Minerals, Azure Minerals, Lodestar Minerals, and Metminco.
2016 Exploration Program kicks off at Horse Well
Alloy Resources (ASX: AYR) advised the market that managing Joint Venture partner Doray Minerals (ASX: DRM) has commenced the 2016 drilling campaign at the Horse Well gold project.
Doray recently earned a 60 per cent interest in the project and Alloy is funding its 40 per cent interest.
The Joint Venture has commenced an exploration program costing at least $2 million in 2016 at the Project, including initially;
• Infill air-core drilling of the Django anomalies (approximately 5,300 metres), and
• Air-core drilling of prospective areas of the Celia Shear zone south of Warmblood prospect (approximately 9,000 metres).
• RC drill testing of identified priority air-core anomalies in the June Quarter (up to 4,500 metres).
“The Horse Well project is one of the few well-funded emerging gold exploration projects in Australia,” Alloy Minerals executive chairman Andy Viner said.
“New discoveries have been made with each drill program completed so far and we are confident that this will continue with the planned programs.
“This current program has started with 200 metre by 50 metre infill air-core drilling at the exciting Django discovery, with the aim to define the best RC drill targets here for further testing in the early part of the June quarter.
“We are very pleased that these strong geochemical anomalies at Django will be tested in this phase of drilling”
Drilling approved for Loma Bonita
Azure Minerals (ASX: AZS) has been given the nod for the Phase 4 drilling program at the company’s Alacrán project, located in the northern Mexican state of Sonora.
Targets to be tested in this program include Loma Bonita, Cerro Enmedio, and a newly identified prospect in the southern part of the project area called Cerro Colorado, which Azure considers to have potential for porphyry-related mineralisation.
The number of holes and meterage to be drilled is dependent upon results.
The first stage of this drilling campaign will be focused on testing the Loma Bonita prospect, where extensive, high gold and silver grades were identified by surface sampling last year.
This mineralisation is hosted in residual quartz (both vuggy and strongly silicified) similar to that which hosts the silver mineralisation at Mesa de Plata.
The drill rig has been mobilised to site and drilling of the first hole has commenced.
Cerro Enmedio is located just south of Loma Bonita, and presents as a strong IP chargeability anomaly situated at a depth of between 300m to 500m below surface.
Big Sky Drill Program
Lodestar Minerals (ASX: LSR) has received approval from the Department of Mines & Petroleum for the Program of Works (POW) submitted earlier this month for the upcoming RC drill program at the Big Sky gold prospect in Western Australia.
Big Sky is located within the company’s 100 per cent-owned Camel Hills project.
The POW approval will enable Lodestar to complete a 1,400 metre RC program of around 20 holes, with the deepest hole planned to extend to a depth of 170m.
Drilling will targeting extensions to the high‐ grade lode where previous RAB and RC drilling returned a number of ore grade intercepts, including:
6 metres at 20.3 grams per tonne gold from 21m; and
6m at 6.6g/t gold from 13m.
A drilling company has now been contracted to complete the RC program, which has indicated drilling could start at the end of February, subject to weather conditions at the Camel Hills project area.
Should this timeline be met, results from the program would be expected in the second half of March.
Diamond Drilling Commences at Los Calatos
Metminco Limited (ASX: MNC) has commenced diamond drilling at the TD2 Target at the company’s Los Calatos project in Southern Peru.
The TD2 Target is located to the southwest of the main Los Calatos deposit on a ‘structural bend’ of the southernmost bounding fault that constrains the extent of the Los Calatos Porphyry Complex.
In 2010 a Titan-24 geophysical survey was completed over parts of the Los Calatos project area.
Two of these lines (L10300W and L11100W) traverse the TD2 Target area which have identified sub-surface magnetotelluric anomalies that persist below the main Los Calatos deposit.
There is also a ground magnetic anomaly that is coincident with both the Los Calatos deposit and TD2 Target.
From this the company has concluded the TD2 Target shares many similarities with the key features that characterise the presence of mineralisation at the Los Calatos Porphyry Complex, which in turn supports its basis for the current drilling.
“The drilling of the hydrothermal breccia at TD2 is important, as it has the potential to increase the resource base at Los Calatos, and with it to enhance the economics of any future mine development.” Metminco managing director William Howe said.
“In parallel the process of securing a funding partner is progressing, with a number of interested parties undertaking due diligence, with further site visits planned.”