Strickland Metals 40m step out with the drill rig at its Warmblood prospect within its Horse Well project near Wiluna has paid big dividends after the company nailed the down plunge extension of the higher up mineralisation. Management says it can now track the strike extent of the mineralisation at Warmblood covering a 1.4km trend and notably, the grade appears to be increasing at depth.
Retesting of historic pulp samples at the project has shown the trend continues a further 400m to the north of the latest diamond drill hit and 1000m to the south, opening up Warmblood as an emerging gold system that the company says could be substantial.
The new Warmblood diamond hole intercepted 14.4m at 6 grams per tonne gold from 114m and included a 7m section running 10.6g/t gold.
A little further downhole the mineralisation was picked up again with a 12m hit going 1.7 g/t gold from 144m.
Previously, the deepest mineralised hit at Warmblood started at 94m which means the new hits have potentially added a whole new dimension to the deposit.
The new drilling also confirms the primary controls of the gold system that is still open at depth, along strike and down plunge, providing a strong indication that the deposit contains substantial mineralisation at depth which may open the door to a much bigger open pit.
Importantly, the new, deeper discovery is outside of the known Warmblood resource.
2km to the north of Warmblood, a second diamond rig has unearthed primary mineralisation beyond the existing resource at Strickland’s Palomino prospect. A deep hit of 14.9m at 3.9g/t from 222.1m including 2.4m at 10,9g/t has underscored the credentials of a possibly much bigger deposit at depth at Palomino as well. Meanwhile shallower hits of 19m at 3g/t from 45m, including 3m at 12g/t, 14m at 2.8g/t from 37m and 16m at 2.4 g/t from 79m including 7m at 5.1g/t all point to the makings of another open pit option. More secrets from Palomino are likely to be unlocked during the next few weeks as 40 samples are still awaiting assay due to turnaround times at the lab continuing to be delayed.
Strickland Metals managing director Paul L'Herpiniere said: “The Warmblood results could be a transformative moment for the project, hinting at significant deep-seated mineralisation. This is our inaugural drill testing for down-plunge extensions, coupled with our first diamond drilling here. Should positive results continue, as we anticipate, this could support a substantial open pit optimisation. Such promising outcomes, particularly when considering the expansive multi-element geochemical trends, reinforce our confidence in the interconnected nature of Horse Well's prospects, with each primary lode exhibiting a northwest plunge.”
“Historical drilling efforts didn't capture the full geometry of the mineralisation, but recent findings suggest that our license area is brimming with potential for further resource growth and discoveries.”
As a result of a 2023 aircore drilling program Strickland successfully linked the shallow oxide resources at Warmblood and the nearby Filly SW prospect into a single oxide deposit with more than 1km of strike, now collectively called Warmblood. The deep intercepts reported today show that not only are the two zones connected at the oxide level but also in the primary domain at depth as a high-grade shoot that remains open.
With nearly ten gold prospects and numerous mineralised trends to explore, Strickland is gaining deeper insights into the primary controls on the mineralised structures at Horse Well with each drill campaign. It is now becoming increasingly evident that the high-grade lodes across the area each have a north-northwest plunge – something that appears to have been missed with historical drilling.
Together with the recently acquired Rogozna project in Serbia which has a JORC-compliant mineral resource of 2.96 million ounces of gold, 200,000 tonnes of copper and 360,000 tonnes of contained zinc, the company’s twin approach to exploration of the yellow metal is running at breakneck speed. Given the current all time high for gold prices, that tactic could start to pay handsome dividends in the not-too-distant future.
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By James Pearson
