Venus Metals has received positive assay results for a raft of minerals from an RC drill campaign across its Pincher Well zinc-lead-copper-gold prospect including a 3m hit at a whopping 35.2 grams per tonne gold.
The outstanding gold intercept was contained within a 9m section going 15.6 g/t gold from surface at Pincher Well that forms part of the company’s Youanmi base metals project about 500km north-east of Perth.
Other highlights include a 12m intersection that recorded 2.22 per cent zinc, 0.15 per cent copper and 0.1 g/t gold from 128m that included 4m at 5.02 per cent zinc from 128m.
The company has also confirmed base metals mineralisation at an induced polarisation anomaly to the south of its Pincher North Dome prospect that included a 20m intercept at 1.2 per cent zinc, 0.38 per cent lead and 0.17 g/t gold from 68m.
The broader Youanmi base metals project is situated 15 km south-west of the Youanmi gold project, a joint venture between Venus and Rox Resources.
Rox holds 70 per cent and Venus holds the remaining 30 per cent of the advanced Youanmi gold joint venture. As part of the agreement Venus also has a 50 per cent interest in regional gold rights at the project that includes gold found at Pincher Well.
The Youanmi gold mine historically produced 667,000 ounces of gold at 5.47 grams per tonne from several open pits and underground mines until its closure in the 1990s.
The site sits on a 36km strike length of its namesake greenstone belt and within shouting distance of the Ramelius-owned Mt Magnet gold mine.
Venus has also completed its first round of RC drilling to test for lithium at its Henderson project near Menzies in WA’s Goldfields region.
Previous exploration identified several outcropping pegmatite clusters over a strike length of about 20km along the Mt Ida/Ularring greenstone belt close to the Ida fault.
Venus says the Emerald SE area is of particular interest because of its high density of outcropping pegmatites with increased lithium content. Significant assays include a 1m section going 2330 parts-per-million lithium dioxide from 210m and a shallower 1m hit at 1363 ppm lithium dioxide from 29m.
Interpretation of the latest drilling data is ongoing and includes analysis of individual 1m samples.
The area looks to be a potential hub for battery mineral exploration with Red Dirt Metals finding spodumene-bearing lithium pegmatites at its Mt Ida project last year, about 10km from Venus’ tenure. The region also includes Ora Banda Mining’s lepidolite-rich pegmatite tenure south of the Henderson project.
Venus says it will test for nickel across the Henderson tenements with a particular focus on the Mt Ida/Ularring greenstone belt that has been highlighted as prospective for nickel mineralisation.
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By Matt Birney
