Rafaella Resources Limited (ASX:RFR) is progressing the building of a detailed 3D model of the high-grade veins based on the JORC compliant underground Inferred Resources of 0.234Mt @ 0.95% WO3 and 2,797ppm Sn for 2,221 tonnes of contained WO3 and 655 tonnes of contained Sn (0.53% WO3 cut-off) at the Santa Comba project in Spain.
Managing Director, Steven Turner, says Santa Comba offers tremendous upside as demonstrated by the Exploration Target identified in 2019.
“Work over the last two years has been focused on better defining the initial open pit project in order to confirm a sizable base case operation. With the resource definition work for the feasibility study now complete, the geology team is looking at advancing the underground resource definition as part of the previously announced underground development and also seeking to reconnaissance the wider known areas of mineralisation that are evident across the granitic massif.”
All vein data from recent drilling campaigns conducted by GTT, the geological data from the ongoing detailed UG mapping, the assay data from UG stockpiles, and all available historical data from the period when COPAREX operated the underground mine, is to be incorporated into the latest version of Leapfrog GEO software.
Once the 3D vein model and the in-house underground Mineral Resource Estimate (UG MRE) are available, RFR will be in a position to design additional brownfield exploration drilling with the objective of increasing both the underground and open pit MRE at Santa Comba mine.
Prior to focusing on any of the known targets, RFR will design an extensive soil geochemistry survey, which has proved to be an excellent tool in the Iberian Peninsula for discovering greenfield non-outcropping mineral deposits, with the main target of discovering non-outcropping endogranite cupolas hosting disseminated ore.
The current JORC compliant UG MRE was conducted by an external consultant in 2016. In June 2019, RFR announced a near surface Exploration Target of between 16.2Mt and 48.6Mt ranging between 0.15% and 0.22% WO3 at a 0.05% WO3 cut-off4. This Exploration Target was based on the distribution of prospective rock type, historic bulk sampling, historic trial mining and the Mineral Resource Estimate (MRE) of 2016, evaluated using JORC (2012) guidelines.
The current MRE of the Santa Comba deposit of 10.2Mt grading 0.18% WO3 and 162ppm Sn for 18,284t of WO3 metal content and 1,649t of Sn metal content, announced by RFR in August, 20215 is separate from the Exploration Target.
Additional Brownfield Exploration Targets
The ongoing underground detailed geological mapping conducted by GTT’s geologist at the Carballeira underground development, located one km southwards from the current open pit MRE of Santa Comba, has demonstrated the presence of endogranite intrusion into schists for more than 80m in strike length. This endogranite includes zones of disseminated ore which extends the potential for endogranite hosted disseminated ore by as much as a kilometer. Therefore, the exploration potential immediately south of the current open pit MRE is significant for both underground narrow high-grade quartz veins and for additional open pit resources of disseminated ore.
Once underground detailed geological mapping is completed for the accessible underground development, a channel sampling programme will be carried out targeting both, the zones of endogranite and the high-grade quartz veins.
Greenfield Exploration Programme
In addition to the underground programme, RFR is planning to conduct a soil geochemistry survey targeting both the open pit (disseminated) and underground (high-grade quartz veins). There are many known trenches and underground works dating relating to previous artisanal mining for high-grade quartz veins trending NNE covering extensively the mining concessions. Soil geochemistry surveying has proved to be an excellent tool for metal discoveries in the Iberian Peninsula.
For further information please visit: https://rafaellaresources.com.au/
