Nexus Minerals Ltd (ASX:NXM) has the diamond drill spinning at the Crusader-Templar deposit of Wallbrook Gold Project in the north-eastern Goldfields of WA as it seeks to de-risk the project as part of ongoing mine studies.
The 1,500-metre diamond drill program is expected to provide critical information to the company and comes as it accelerates mine study work ahead of potential development.
It will provide further information for metallurgical test work, geotechnical assessment, waste rock characterization and water monitoring and is expected to be completed next month.
To provide “crucial insights”
The drill holes are multi-purpose where possible with some to also provide additional orebody infill detail.
This program follows the recently updated JORC 2012 Crusader-Templar combined mineral resource estimate of 5.67 million tonnes at 1.7 g/t gold for 304,000 ounces of gold at a 0.4 g/t cut-off.
“It’s great to see the rig turning at our Wallbrook Gold Project once again,” Nexus managing director Andy Tudor said.
"This diamond program will provide crucial insights essential for potential future development of the Crusader-Templar deposit, while affording our technical team opportunities to further evaluate the orebody.”
Nexus is also continuing work on a scoping study for the project which is expected to be completed by the end of this month.
Nexus Wallbrook regional target locations.
Aircore drill plan
At a Wallbrook Project regional exploration level, the company has planned a 10,000-metre aircore drilling program over four high-priority regional targets – MC1.4, MC2.1, MC%.1 and MC4.2 - with this to kick-off immediately after the diamond drilling.
These priority targets represent near-surface opportunities to efficiently build the project ounce portfolio in line with the company’s exploration strategy.
"In addition to recent milestones around the Crusader-Templar deposit, we have now scheduled an aircore program to commence in June,” Tudor said.
"This program tests priority regional targets which have our team very excited – we look forward to providing updates as the programs progress in the coming months.”
Four targets
MC1.4 is a known area of increased porphyry dyke activity. These are geological units implicated in controlling gold mineralisation at the Crusader-Templar deposit.
A major NW-SE trending structure with multiple splays provides a potential pathway for hydrothermal fluids.
Target (NYSE:TGT) MC2.1 comprises two target zones immediately north of the Wallbrook Gold Mine of Northern Star Resources (ASX:NST) and represent a potential extension of this resource.
Historical exploration indicates gold opportunity with mapped characteristics synonymous with the Crusader-Templar deposit.
Immediately south along strike from the nearby Million Dollar Gold Mine of Northern Star is Target MC5.1 at which observed structural complexity, including a series of NNE–SSW trending faults traversing the target, offer potential conduits for mineralizing fluids.
MC4.2 is on the boundary between iron-rich and iron-poor intermediate packages with a series of NE-SW faults. Disruption in magnetic signature suggests a zone of magnetic destruction due to hydrothermal activity.
This target is south along strike from Northern Star’s Enterprise Gold Mine and is in the same geological package.