Drilling To Test Mineralisation Extensions At San Jose Mine On-going
Variscan Mines Limited (ASX:VAR) has announced positive results from 21 underground channel samples taken from the San Jose-Novales Mine in Spain.
Managing Director and CEO, Stewart Dickson, said the channel samples, taken over a 300m length at the portal and a 600m length within the San Jose Mine indicate good continuity of the stratabound mineralisation which retains its high-grade tenor as it extends.
Highlights:
- Newly reported channel sample results have continued to produce excellent zinc and lead grades at the San Jose – Novales Mine;
- This underground channel sampling was conducted over the same elevation (+48mRL) demonstrating extensive mineralisation presence at the main drive level;
- Potential for future infill and extensional channel sampling at the same elevation and higher- levels; remains open and untested at depth;
- Drilling near mine entrance has been completed; currently awaiting assay results; and
- Rig moved further into the mine to test extensive N-S mineralised corridors with drilling ongoing.
The channel samples were collected along the main drive and workings of the San Jose – Novales Mine which is between 25m and 190m below the surface.
Variscan’s Managing Director and CEO, Stewart Dickson, said, the underground sampling comprised of 21 channel samples with lengths between 0.7-3m, taken at irregular intervals1. Samples were cut from floor to ceiling and oriented orthogonally to cross-cut the sub-horizontal mineralised lenses.
“These channel samples confirm our geologic interpretation that the extensive and stratabound mineralisation in the San Jose-Novales Mine appears to have good continuity and reiterates the presence of very high zinc grades at this deposit,” Mr Dickson said.
“These results also confirm our view that the newly defined mineralized area near the San Jose-Novales Mine portal through recent drilling represents an interesting exploration target from which we expect assay results shortly.
“Drilling to delineate extensions of the mineralisation and demonstrate the presence of other high-grade zones within the mine is ongoing.”
The mined-out stopes range in elevation between +43m to +98m, as demonstrated by the 3D underground laser survey completed in 2020. However, the historical drilling indicates this typically stratabound mineralisation ranges between +40m and +120m elevation, providing significant upside for exploration at unmined levels.
Inferred lithological contacts between the limestone and the host dolomite provide further evidence of the significant elevation range in which to explore for sulphide accumulations within the dolomitic host rock.
Furthermore, this provides excellent drilling potential below the current access level going forward, which has never been tested fully in the past.
Variscan geologists are also investigating the potential for up and down-dip extensions of the most prominent mineralised trends (stopes) at San Jose with apparent structural control.
