VIDEO DIARY: Miramar Resources (ASX: M2R) executive chairman Allan Kelly dropped into The Resources Roadhouse to bring Wally Graham up to speed on the company’s activities at its Whaleshark IOCG project in Western Australia.
THE DRILL SERGEANT: Miramar Resources (ASX: M2R) has received a yes from the Western Australian Government’s Co-Funded Exploration Drilling Program “Exploration Incentive Scheme” (EIS).
Miramar Resources applied for co-funding of diamond drilling to be undertaken at the company’s 100 per cent-owned Whaleshark IOCG project in the Ashburton region of Western Australia.
To that end the company has picked up a handy $180,000 that it will put towards direct drilling costs, including mobilisation charges, subject to signing of a Funding Agreement.
Miramar explained the co-funded diamond drilling program will test a coincident gravity and aircore geochemical anomaly within a Proterozoic granite and Banded Iron Formation complex under sediments of the Northern Carnarvon Basin.
“The Whaleshark project presents a unique opportunity for discovery of a large IOCG deposit under cover and within the relatively under-explored Capricorn Orogen of Western Australia,” Miramar Resources executive chairman Allan Kelly said in the company’s ASX announcement.
“The discovery of a large IOCG deposit at Whaleshark could have a significant impact on exploration activities across the wider Gascoyne mineral province, similar to the discovery of the giant Olympic Dam deposit in the 1970s and the Prominent Hill and Carrapateena IOCG discoveries in the 2000s.
“We are very excited to be drill testing this highly prospective target and it is fantastic to have the support of the Western Australian Government.”
Miramar indicated it is now preparing for completion of heritage surveys over the proposed drill sites and, in line with the terms of the EIS funding, the co-funded diamond drilling will commence in June.
TO READ THE FULL ANNOUNCEMENT: CLICK HERE
THE DRILL SERGEANT: Miramar Resources (ASX: M2R) signalled its exploration focus for 2023 will centre on the company’s portfolio of projects located in Gascoyne region of Western Australia.
Miramar Resources has a number of 100 per cent-owned projects in the Gascoyne Mineral Province, which it considers prospective for a range of commodities including: iron oxide copper-gold (IOCG), REEs hosted in carbonatites and nickel-copper-PGEs associated with Proterozoic dolerite sills.
The company is eager to get out on its Whaleshark project where modelling and inversion of detailed gravity data collected during 2022 identified a discrete gravity anomaly within the neck of the Whaleshark granite which is cross-cut by a NW-trending structure interpreted from aeromagnetic data.
Miramar has received Program of Work approval for a drill program to test the gravity anomaly with 1-2 diamond holes and has also submitted an application to be considered for the current round of co-funded drilling under the WA government’s Exploration Incentive Scheme (EIS).
Drilling will commence following completion of a heritage survey over the proposed drill sites.
On the back of discoveries of several REE-bearing carbonatite intrusions by neighbouring companies, Miramar flew a detailed magnetic and radiometric survey over the Dooley Downs target in late 2022 that highlighted several radiometric anomalies.
Of these, the Eden Bore target stood out as a large circular magnetic anomaly at the contact between Edmund and Collier Basin rocks.
Miramar plans to test this target with systematic soil and/or auger sampling, followed by drilling.
“We have a number of fantastic discovery opportunities right across our project portfolio but the Gascoyne region has really heated up over the last 12-18 months,” Miramar Resources executive chairman Allan Kelly said in the company’s ASX announcement.
“Now that we have completed regional-scale targeting on our granted projects, we are looking forward to focussing in on our more advanced targets this year.
“We’re excited about the potential at Whaleshark and/or Bangemall with a new IOCG, REE or nickle-copper-PGE discovery a real possibility at these project sites.”
TO READ THE FULL ANNOUNCEMENT: CLICK HERE
THE CONFERENCE CALLER: There were plenty of ASX announcements from companies eager to attract attention of delegates to get things started on Day One of the RIU Explorers Conference.
Global Lithium Resources (ASX: GL1) reported the results of a Scoping Study carried out at the company’s Manna lithium project east of Kalgoorlie in Western Australia.
Global Lithium owns 100 per cent of the Manna lithium project that hosts a Total Mineral Resource Estimate (MRE) of 32.7 million tonnes at 1 per cent lithium oxide (Li2O), with 58 per cent in the Indicated category.
“The results of the Scoping Study show the true quality and real potential of the Manna lithium project,” Global Lithium managing director Ron Mitchell said.
“The exploration team worked extremely hard throughout 2022 to provide a solid foundation for the Manna lithium project.
“The development team will now diligently progress all the necessary technical components and engineering work streams to ensure the project is sufficiently de-risked allowing the company to progress to a final investment decision next year.”
Cygnus Metals (ASX: CY5) announced assay results from the first two drill holes undertaken at the company’s Pontax lithium project in the James Bay region of Québec, Canada.
Results from the first two holes returned multiple intercepts including individual intersections of up to 16.5 metres at 1.1 per cent Li2O that are some of the thickest Cygnus has achieved to date, which it said highlights the scope for growth at Pontax.
“These are very strong results which demonstrate Pontax has both grade and width,” Cygnus Metals managing director David Southam said.
“Given that spodumene has already been outlined over a 700 metres strike length, the results highlight the significant potential for growth through systematic exploration.”
Miramar Resources (ASX: M2R) declared results from analysis of end of hole samples from aircore drilling it believes to have increased the potential for the company’s 100 per cent-owned Whaleshark project to host iron oxide copper gold (IOCG) mineralisation.
End of hole (EOH) samples from the 2022 aircore drilling campaign were analysed for a multi-element suite, including IOCG pathfinders with one hole returning the highest copper and cobalt results Miramar has seen from Whaleshark to date.
“At Whaleshark, we have the right aged rocks, the right style of alteration and the right combination of elements typically associated with IOCG mineralisation,” Miramar Resources executive chairman Allan Kelly said.
“As we continue to explore the project, we see more similarities with the signatures of various large IOCG deposits.”
Ausgold (ASX: AUC) informed punters of initial results from a multi-rig drilling program it commenced in December 2022 at the company’s 100 per cent-owned 2.16 million ounces Katanning gold project (KGP) in Western Australia.
The company received initial program results for reverse circulation (RC) drilling (55 holes for 4,763m) it declared to demonstrate the presence of new high-grade zones of mineralisation along strike from and within the projects’ Central Zone and Southern Zone Resource areas.
“High-grade results from new drilling highlights the strong case for the Katanning gold project to be a much larger project,” Ausgold managing director Matthew Greentree said.
“The 25,000 metres drilling program is testing areas along strike from known Resource areas.
“With the majority of the program still underway, these early results anticipate further discoveries to extend Resource areas and expand targeted opportunities regionally at the Duggan, Stanley and Lake Magenta prospects.”
