Askari unearths more Wheatbelt gold mineralisation

Battery metals and gold explorer Askari Metals has revealed a 600m strike extension of potential gold mineralisation with an auger drilling campaign at the company’s Burracoppin gold project in WA’s Wheatbelt region.

Results running up to 619 parts per billion gold were returned with the surficial drilling work in addition to successfully mapping gold mineralisation at Burracoppin along a strike length of more than 4km.

The results have generated multiple significant drill-ready targets for follow-up in the next planned RC drilling campaign with several anomalous zones presently undrilled.

The auger sampling suggests an additional 600m of mineralisation exists along strike and to the north of the project’s significant prospects: Benbur, Christmas Gift and Burgess Find.

The company says the mineralisation is trending into an area that remains untested by historic drilling or gold workings.

To the east of Benbur the sampling results validate and upgrade the potential of newly discovered mineralisation that Askari recently tested in a third-phase RC drilling program.

In addition, significant gold anomalism was identified south of the Burracoppin’s main workings near the project’s prospects Lone Tree and Easter Gift.

Askari Metals' Vice-President of Exploration and Geology, Johan Lambrechts said:The company is delighted with the results of the auger campaign as they clearly suggest an additional 600m strike extension to the north with results of over 100ppb gold to a maximum of 619ppb gold over the target area.”

“Excitingly, the results also add weight to and even upgrade an interpreted mineralised area east of Benbur with assays of greater than 100ppb gold on average over an area that has never been explored in detail.”

“The phase III RC drilling program recently tested this area with the first-ever drilling, which may add another mineralised zone to the Burracoppin project.”

The company plans to use findings from its drill program to guide further phases of exploration as it looks to table a maiden mineral resource estimate and an initial scoping study.

Less than 25km to the north-east of the project is ASX-listed Ramelius Resources’ Edna May processing plant and gold mine, hosting a mineral resource of 31 million tonnes grading 1 gram per tonne gold for a total of 990,000 ounces contained.

More than 1 million ounces of gold have been produced from the mine, with annual production ranging between 66,000 and 99,000 ounces since 2011.

Ramelius has been transporting ore from as far away as 170km from its Mardia open-pit mine to the Edna May mill since 2020 and 140km from its Tampia open-pit mine since last year as it looks to bring its Edna May open-pit back into action.

Should Askari define something sizeable at Burracoppin, it may be an attractive source of feed for the $875m market-capped producer’s 2.6 million-tonne-per-annum processing plant.

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