Askari Metals has outlined a significant JORC-compliant gold exploration target at its Burracoppin gold project in Western Australia, with average grade variance between 0.67 to 0.91 grams per tonne within 8.2 to 11.1 million tonnes.
The target outlines a haul of between 176,000 and 323,000 gold ounces and is in addition to the existing mineral resource estimate for Burracoppin of 1.32 million tonnes grading 1.52g/t gold for 64,600 ounces of contained gold.
The Burracoppin project straddles two exploration licences, one recently acquired, in a patch of more than 30 square kilometres in WA’s eastern Wheatbelt region. It lies 15km south-west of the producing Edna May gold mine that comprises 31 million tonnes grading 1g/t gold for 990,000 ounces of contained gold.
The Archaean granite-gneiss greenstone terrane at the site is metamorphosed to amphibolite-granulite grade, with minor banded-iron formation and aplite-pegmatite dykes. Gently undulating topography with isolated lateritic breakaways, some of them gold-bearing, is typical.
Askari Metals managing director Gino D'Anna said: “The Burracoppin Gold Project continues to develop into a significant and advanced gold exploration project in the enviable mining jurisdiction of Western Australia, close to the producing Edna May Gold Mine. Significant exploration potential and resource expansion upside remains at Burracoppin offering further discovery and resource growth potential.”
D'Anna said the company has recently received a “significant uptick” in investor and strategic interest for the Burracoppin project on the back of record high Australian gold prices and its notable mineralised drill intersections.
Historical mining activity at Burracoppin occurred in four main areas through a 3km north-south-trending strike extending from Christmas Gift in the north, through Benbur North, Benbur and Easter Gift in the south.
Askari’s exploration drilling was predominantly targeted from the east utilising 50-degree holes, resulting in mineralised intersections slightly longer than true width. The company has defined three separate mineralisation sites and zones at Benbur-Christmas Gift, Easter Gift and Lone Tree, located 600m further south.
Together, they formed the basis for the Burracoppin resource estimate. High-grade gold reverse-circulation (RC) drill intercepts at Easter Gift include 3m at 17.4g/t including 1m at 45.5g/t from 73m downhole.
The company’s exploration target comprises five individual focuses.
Target 1 extends north/north-west from Christmas Gift-Benbur along the east contact shear zone for 700m, with an estimated width of 60m and maximum depth extensions to 180m. Target 2 has a 780m-long and a 100m to 450m-wide mineralised zone between, and adjacent to, the Benbur-Christmas Gift and Easter Gift prospects.
Target 3 is 500m long by 60m wide, south/south-west of Easter Gift and there is a corresponding gold soil anomaly in the north. Target 4 envelopes the Lone Tree prospect, 850m south-east of Easter Gift and extending through a 500m-by-200m area that features an obvious gold soil anomaly.
Finally, Target 5 – 2.5km north-west of Target 1 – extends more than 3.7km in length and 200m in width, again along the sheared east mafic intrusive contact.
An extensive geological database comprising 1058 drillholes, from both rotary air-blast and RC drilling, for 17,705m and aeromagnetic data has been used by Askari to generate a geological and mineralisation model for Burracoppin.
The company is marching ahead at Burracoppin and its significant gold exploration target extending through 9km of strike in five individual areas, all with similar mineralisation styles and structural control, bodes well for ongoing gold resource inventory growth.
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By Rohan Halfpenny
