First Drill Assay At Bushranger Copper-Gold Project Confirms Historic Potential In NSW
Xtract Resources Plc (AIM:XTR) has intersected copper and gold in the first drill hole (BRDD-20-001) completed on the Phase One diamond drilling programme at the Racecourse Mineral Resource on the Bushranger copper-gold exploration project, located in the Lachlan Fold Belt (LFB) of New South Wales, Australia.
Highlights:
- Assay results from the first drill hole (BRDD-20-001) of the Phase One Drilling Programme at the Racecourse deposit returned an overall intersection of 920m @ 0.3% Cu, 0.02g/t Au and 1.45g/t Ag (0.33% CuEq) from 110m
- Higher-grade zones within the overall mineralised envelope include 156m @ 0.48% Cu, 0.04g/t Au & 2.44g/t Ag (0.52% CuEq) from 110m and 44m @ 0.50% Cu, 0.05g/t Au & 1.92/t Ag (0.55% CuEq) from 504m
Executive Chairman, Colin Bird,said the assay results confirm that the mineralisation at Racecourse forms a very substantial copper-gold mineral system and there is significant potential to expand the Mineral Resource, which is currently estimated as 71Mt @ 0.44% Cu & 0.064g/t Au, at a 0.3% cut-off and classified as Inferred in accordance with JORC (2012)
Mr Bird said the higher-grade sections of mineralisation correspond well those reported from drilling undertaken by Anglo American Exploration Australia Pty Ltd in 2014 and 2015 suggesting good lateral continuity to the higher-grade zones
The overall mineral intersection and higher-grade zones in drill hole BRDD-20-001 compare very favourably with intercepts reported by Alkane Resources Limited for its Boda copper-gold discovery located 170km from Bushranger
Mr Bird noted that the occurrence of molybdenum values in BRDD-20-001 ranging up to 95.2ppm throughout the mineralised interval provides further indications of an extensive porphyry system in the area
“The assay results from the first hole at the Racecourse deposit are exciting in that they confirm mineralisation for almost a kilometre down-plunge,” Mr Bird said.
“The overall grade of 0.33% CuEq is very pleasing and I am particularly encouraged by the grade uniformity over the entire intercept. Results from the remaining holes will give us more information about the thickness and across-strike continuity of the mineralisation.
“The assay results from the initial hole compare very favourably with results reported from Alkane’s Boda project and the bias towards copper at Racecourse is welcome, as it is a metal forecast to be in strong demand for years to come.
“I am also encouraged by the spread of molybdenum values throughout the drill interval – while these might not represent a financial credit to the project, they are good evidence for extensive development of porphyry systems in the region.
“The Phase One Drilling Programme has indicated the potentially significant scale of the Racecourse deposit and we will shortly be entering a phase of 3-D modelling and will undertake further geophysical surveying to aid planning for the Phase Two drilling programme.
“The initial assay results have excited the team and we are now working on permissions for the geophysical survey and further drilling as we work towards our target of 2Mt of contained copper.”
