Diamond drilling at Astro Resources NL (ASX:ARO)’s Leichhardt East prospect has uncovered copper, silver, bismuth and uranium within the Georgina iron oxide copper gold (IOCG) project in the Northern Territory.
The explorer tabled early-stage assays from a deep diamond drill hole at the Central tenement’s polymetallic prospect, which uncovered copper linked to ironstones and IOCG pathfinders like uranium in a number of samples.
Ultimately, Astro believes the polymetallic anomalism reinforces Georgina’s IOCG prospectivity and underscores its similarity to other fruitful deposits.
The company plans to team the diamond assays with results from down-hole electromagnetic surveillance, charting the course for follow-up drilling.
Next up: detailed review
Astro executive chairman Tony Leibowitz said he was pleased with the early results, which hint that Leichhardt East prospect may have hit the outer edge of a mineralised IOCG system within Georgina’s Central tenement.
“We’re now awaiting the final results from our petrography and magnetism studies, with this data to feed into a detailed review of the Central tenement area to help plan next steps and prioritise drill targets,” he explained.
Some of the highlights from Astro’s deep diamond hole include:
- 5.11 metres at 256 parts per million (ppm) uranium and 115 ppm copper, including:
- 0.24% uranium, 819 ppm copper and 0.15 g/t silver from 689 metres;
- 374 ppm uranium, 11.8 ppm bismuth and 78.6 ppm copper in ironstone from 693 metres;
- 0.11% uranium, 40.8 ppm bismuth and 0.11 g/t silver from 481 metres; and
- 635 ppm copper and 0.26 g/t silver from 576 metres.
Uranium presents further upside
Uranium is found in several well-known IOCG deposits, but one of the best examples is the giant Olympic Dam asset in South Australia, where uranium is prevalent enough to be sold as a co-product alongside copper and gold.
Other uranium-IOCG assets of note include the Ernest Henry deposit in northwest Queensland and the high-grade Juno deposit close to home in Tennant Creek.
Once Astro has received remaining data from the CSIRO’s magnetic remanence test-work program, along with petrographical thin section observations, the company plans to take a step back and evaluate the broader Central tenement.
Work will include analysis for elevated magnetic and gravity responses (interpreted to be prospective for IOCG style mineralisation), supported by the rock types, alteration and geochemistry results for the drill holes to date.