Australia's junior explorers - The ASIA Miner

Australian Junior Explorers
CORE EXPANDS DRILLING AT COPPER PROJECT
AFTER receiving encouraging initial assays,
Core Exploration has expanded the diamond
drilling program at its flagship Yorke Peninsula
copper project in South Australia. The ir on
oxide copper gold (IOCG) prospect is next to
Rex Minerals’ extensive copper deposit at the
Hillside project, northwest of Port Augusta.
Core Exploration’s managing director Stephen
Biggins says, “We already have multiple
intersections with significant copper
results to date and still have more assays expected
to be available in
mid-May from the r emaining
50% of holes drilled in
that opening program.
“These initial hits have already
encouraged our exploration
team to
recommence diamond drilling
with an expanded pr ogram,
including focus on
the main W auraltee prospect
where only 20% of the
1500 metre length of the
geophysical model has so
far been tested by drilling.”
Core Exploration says
there is growing interest in
56 | ASIA Miner | July/August 2011
the copper sulphides found with zones of
IOCG alteration on the Yorke Peninsula. The
company is also actively exploring its Fitton
copper-uranium prospect in norther n South
Australia as well as the Roxby Downs licence
area situated near BHP Billiton’s Olympic Dam
operation.
The Fitton prospect, 25km north of the Beverley
uranium mine, is in a pr oven worldclass
uranium mining district and Cor e has
recently identified very high levels of uranium
and copper in outcrop. A zone of shearing related
to mineralization has been mapped for
more than 2000 metr es at surface on the
newly named Scott Lee prospect.
A sample of chloritized schist within a
shear zone contained 2858ppm uranium
which is a four-fold increase in the previous
highest uranium value identified. In addition
a number of new samples contained highly
anomalous uranium above 100ppm for a
strike length of more than 800 metres.
The high levels of uranium
and copper in the new and
previous rock chip samples
correlate well with r esults
from previous soil surveys.
The company planned to
begin follow-up mapping,
sampling and detailed r ock
chip sampling of the entir e
length of the mineralized
shear zone during late June.
Drilling of priority targets defined
by these surveys is planned
for August/September.
Core is considering partnering
its Roxby South project to
fund drilling of IOCGU targets.
VENTNOR’S FOURTH DRILLING PHASE TO TEST AT DEPTH
BASE metals explorer Ventnor Resources has
commenced the fourth phase of drilling at its
Thaduna and Green Dragon copper project
in central Western Australia. The deep drilling
program is testing the pr ojected mineralization
at up to 320 metres below the surface.
The fourth phase at Thaduna aims to
achieve a complete resource drill out above
200 metres and to investigate the potential
for economic mineralization below 200 metres
along a strike length of 1000 metres.
The company has completed 145 r everse-circulation
drill holes over 18,700 metres
and 15 diamond drill holes over 1517
metres at Thaduna, while 89 reverse circulation
holes over 11,643 metres and 2 diamond
holes for 390 metr es have been
drilled at Green Dragon.
Assay results from the third drill phase have
been received, including significant intersections
such as 37 metr es @ 2.61% copper
An in situ sample from the shear zone at Core’s Scott Lee prospect.
from 111 metr es including 10 metr es @
7.53% copper from 134 metres and 19 metres
@ 1.85% copper from 246 metres including
6.57 metres @ 3.93% copper and 19.2
grams/tonne silver from 258 metres.
Mineralization including chalcopyrite and
bornite as semi-massive blebs and vein fill
has been observed in a variety of host rocks,
with the mineralization observed occurring irrespective
of the host rock. Ventnor says intersections
of br oad zones of primary
mineralization have been made at various positions
underneath the Thaduna pit.
Significant mineralization has also been encountered
at the Green Dragon prospect during
the thir d drilling phase. Assay r esults
include 10 metres @ 6.82% copper from 34
metres including 6 metres @ 10.96% copper
from 37 metres and 7 metres @ 4.43% copper
from 75 metr es including 5 metr es @
6.07% copper from 80 metres.The majority
of the Green Dragon mineralization is chalcocite,
which is hosted within a variety of stratigraphy
greywacke and siltstones.
The Thaduna and Green Dragon project is
170km north of Meekatharra and takes in
4216 hectares in the Doolgunna district,
where historic mine pr oduction took place.
Ventnor has two other projects nearby – the
Warrawanda and Nickel Hills nickel tenements
which cover 11,216 hectares. No exploration
activities have been undertaken at
these projects in the last quarter.
Meantime, the company has been awarded
funding by the Queensland gover nment to
progress its Georgina Hills pr oject 200km
southwest of Mt Isa. Ventnor says it will use
the $125,000 grant to drill a 1200 metre hole
to test and extensive, co-incident, magnetic
and gravity anomaly consistent with the possibility
of an IOCG deposit buried beneath the
sedimentary cover.