Oakdale Resources is already looking to expand its drilling program over the Gibraltar halloysite project in the SA, with the company seeking approval to extend the drilling pattern to the north of the prospect. In other news, drilling has also wrapped up in the US for Oakdale, with planning underway now for the 2021 field season at both the Lambarson and Douglas Canyon gold projects.
The company has now completed the first phase of drilling at its Gibraltar halloysite project, which is located on South Australia’s iconic Eyre Peninsula. The drilling campaign successfully intersected various shallow, halloysite-rich clay bands with samples now in the laboratory for assay. Various specimen samples have now also been dispatched to CSIRO for the definitive identification of key mineral species.
Whilst Oakdale awaits the results from the latest drill program, three-dimensional modelling of the geology indicates the deposit continues to the north of the prospect area, prompting the budding explorer to begin planning for an extended program to test the aluminous clays for more than 1,500m along strike.
Results from the maiden drilling program at Gibraltar are expected in late January 2021 with a second phase of aircore drilling to follow soon after.
At the Lambarson Canyon gold prospect in Nevada, drill testing of both lode and porphyry gold targets successfully intersected the mineralised stratigraphy, with the deeper drill hole in the south of the tenement area chewing through a sulphidic porphyry body.
Drill hole LCD-02 was designed to test a 500m-long induced polarisation anomaly, with the bit encountering a weathered and altered porphyry body from surface that extends to more than 158m below surface. The intrusive body shows strong alteration, quartz veining and disseminated sulphides, which bodes well for the ongoing exploration program.
Assaying of the drill core has returned anomalous gold mineralisation throughout the porphyry body including 13.3m at 0.23 g/t gold, hosting 1m at 0.73 g/t gold from 92.8m down-hole. An evaluation of the drilling data is now underway, with integration of the geochemical and geophysical data likely to assist in the targeting of future drilling.
Oakdale’s exploration program in Nevada is set to move into the south of the US state in the new year, with the company lining up 560m of diamond drilling to test an array of steeply dipping quartz veins at the Douglas Canyon project. Rock chip sampling of the quartz veins and surrounding country rock returned solid grades of gold and silver mineralisation including assays of up to 16.2 g/t gold and a whopping 495 g/t silver.
Drilling is expected to kick off at Douglas Canyon in the first half of 2021 and is likely to be preceded by mapping, sampling and geophysical surveying to confirm drill sites and the quartz reef targets prior to the diamond rig being deployed to site.
Oakdale has finished the year on a high note, with its exploration program in SA continuing to gain momentum and the company confirming its targets in Nevada. With the high-profile Crown nickel project next to Chalice Mining’s spectacular Julimar discovery, still waiting in the queue, Oakdale will have plenty on its plate in the new year when it leaps back into exploration across its multitude of prospects.
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