Preparing To Follow-Up Near Mine Targets
Australian gold and nickel company, Rox Resources Limited (ASX: RXL) is preparing for a major exploration programme at Youanmi in the OYG JV area in Western Australia.
“We are pleased to report strong results from our comprehensive programme undertaken late in 2020 demonstrating the endowment of the Youanmi gold project,” Managing Director Alex Passmore said.
“Additionally we look forward to commencing testing of our two new compelling near mine targets in late January or early February.”
Mr Passmore said Rox continued to receive data for the northern extents of the Grace mineralisation in November and December.
He said importantly, the southern extent of the Grace structure at Youanmi, and the structure at depth have emerged as compelling targets. Rox’s exploration model indicates that this zone has strong potential for significantly enhancing near mine gold inventory.
He said the southern part of the Grace structure likely intersects the Youanmi mine shear below and south of the historically mined Pollard lodes. These lodes were principally mined in the 1930’s with historical mine records indicating production of 260,000oz at 15 g/t Au mined grade. The modern era (1987 – 1993) open pit then mined out remnant mineralisation between surface and 120m below ground level.
This new target, known as “Junction”,is to be tested via drilling commencing in late January or early February 2021.
Elsewhere, Aircore drilling to test new targets to the north of the Youanmi mine area has identified extensive gold anomalism in the Youanmi Granite. Several zones greater than 250ppb Au have been delineated indicating gold bearing structures in the granite, that when traced back to intersecting positions in the mafic lithologies, present high priority drill targets.
Activities since the start of October 2020 also focused on identifying new high-grade, north-south trending structures (i.e. analogous to Grace) north of prospects Hill End, United North, Kathleen, and Rebel. RC drilling of 22 holes for 3,928m was completed.
Several new zones of mineralisation have been identified, which are expected to show similar metallurgical characteristics to Grace (i.e. free milling) and may present future opportunities for incorporation into shallow oxide resource inventory.
The intersection zones of these gold bearing structures with regional structures in mafic lithologies are key targets for further RC drilling to be undertaken in Q1 2021.
Mr Passmore said the company looks forward to updating the market on the further results of ongoing aircore, RC and diamond drill programme as a result Rox’s recent exploration work has identified the important Link and Junction targets which represent the intersection zones between north-south trending structures and the NW trending mine shear.
The intersection of the Grace structure with the NW trending mine shear represents a high priority target for adding ounces to the overall project resource in the first half of 2020.
