Tennant Minerals Limited (ASX: TMS) has commenced a new 4,500m diamond drilling programme at the Bluebird copper-gold discovery, located on the 100% owned Barkly Project in Australia’s Northern Territory.
“We are delighted to commence this key diamond drilling program to follow up on the exceptional high-grade results achieved to date at Bluebird and to help define the scale of this exciting copper-gold discovery,” Chairman, Matthew Driscoll, said.
“We also look forward to receiving the modelled results from the recently-completed drone magnetics survey, which we expect to highlight the outstanding potential for additional copper-gold discoveries within the broader 5km Bluebird Corridor.
“This is an exciting time for the company as we look to unlock the true potential of what we believe is a significant high-grade copper-gold discovery in a highly-endowed mineral province.”
New Diamond Drilling Programme
To date, drilling at Bluebird has only tested the mineralisation from 100m to just over 200m vertical depth, and over a 150m strike length. The deposit remains open to the west, as well as both up and down dip.
The new programme will aim to scope out and expand the footprint of the high-grade Bluebird copper-gold mineralisation with up to 4,500m of diamond drilling, including: The Stage 1 diamond drilling programme of six holes for up to 1,500m is targeting the central thickest part of the shallow, westerly plunging copper-gold shoot – immediately down plunge from the previously reported thick and high-grade intersections including: 50.0m @ 2.70% Cu, 0.52 g/t Au, 29.8 g/t Ag from 158m (down hole) in BBDD00091; including 24.0m @ 5.01% Cu, 1.01 g/t Au, 61.7 g/t Ag from 159m, – including 5.0m @ 7.28% Cu, 1.29 g/t Ag, 291 g/t Ag from 165m, and, – including 4.3m @ 14.7% Cu, 3.10 g/t Au from 176.6m.
A Stage 2 diamond drilling programme of 10 step-out holes for up to 3,000m is designed to significantly expand the footprint of the Bluebird discovery to over 300m strike length and 300m vertical depth.
The two-stage drilling program is designed to expand the scoped dimensions of the deposit to a scale that is similar to other major copper-gold deposits in the Tennant Creek Mineral Field. This includes the Peko deposit, located just 20km to the west of Bluebird, which historically produced 147,000 tonnes of copper grading 4% and 414,000oz of gold at 10 g/t between 1934 and 1981.
Drone Magnetics Survey
Detailed gravity modelling indicates that the high-density zone associated with iron enrichment extends strongly to the west of Bluebird, potentially linking with the Perseverance historical gold workings, 1.5km to the west, where previous drilling produced shallow high-grade gold intersections such as 3m @ 50.0 g/t Au from 42m in PERC0152 and 3m @ 43.2 g/t Au from 72m in PERC0012.
Previous ground magnetics indicate Bluebird is associated with a bullseye magnetic anomaly. The Company has identified another 12 magnetic features along the 5km gravity trendthat have not been effectively tested.
Previous drilling has failed to penetrate the near-surface leached zone and test primary sulphide targets and the new magnetics will allow further discovery drilling to be undertaken.
For further information please visit: https://tennantminerals.com/
