MetalsGrove Mining Ltd (ASX:MGA) has set the reverse circulation (RC) drill spinning in maiden drilling testing the Box Hole zinc-lead and Edwards Creek copper-gold prospects within the Arunta Project in the Northern Territory.
The critical metals exploration and development company says the 2,400-metre program will test several high-priority targets including stratabound mineralisation.
These targets have been generated by Intrepid Geophysics, which has processed and overlaid significant historical geochemistry, electromagnetic and radiometric data sets.
Next phase begins
Managing director Sean Sivasamy said: “We are very pleased to have this next phase of drilling underway within our Arunta Project.
"Given the recent completion of RC drilling at our highly prospective Bruce REE Prospect, we have utilised the availability of the drill rig to carry out this next phase of work at Edwards Creek and Box Hole.”
Arunta Project location map.
The maiden drilling program at Box Hole and Edwards Creek is expected to take around three weeks to complete with first assays to be reported within 4-6 weeks thereafter.
Box Hole follow-up
Historical drilling at Box Hole returned a best intersection of 13 metres at 2.7% zinc and 0.7% lead from 17 metres including 5 metres at 2.3% zinc and 1.4% lead, and 5 metres at 4.3% zinc and 0.2% lead from 25 metres. The latter included 1-metre at 14.7% zinc and 0.3% lead from 25 metres.
The Box Hole zinc-lead, REE prospect comprises a single granted mineral exploration licence covering about 12,765 hectares and is about 340 kilometres northeast of Alice Springs.
At the prospect’s Kings Working deposit, 15 tonnes of galena was historically mined with an average grade of 66% lead, 58.50 g/t silver and 0.43% bismuth.
The known outcrop at Box Hole has a strike extent of 7 kilometres with mineralisation open in all directions.
This previous work and MetalsGrove’s reconnaissance have led to a conceptual exploration target of between 50 and 80 million tonnes at a grade ranging between 3.0% to 4.0% zinc-lead and at a shallow depth.
Edwards Creek program
Previous work at Edwards Creek, which covers around 380 square kilometres about 75 kilometres NNE of Alice Springs in the highly prospective Arunta region, has also provided encouragement for MetalsGrove heading into the RC campaign.
Historical drilling returned high-grade mineralisation including 4.5 metres at 2.25% copper, 0.11% lead, 1.54% zinc and 0.14 g/t gold from 47 metres and 18.6 metres at 0.22% copper, 0.17% lead, 0.49% zinc and 0.14 g/t gold from 44.3 metres.
Territory Exploration Pty Ltd acquired new EM data over Edwards Creek in 2017 and identified a strong EM conductor that was interpreted to be caused by sulphide mineralisation at depth.
Two RC holes were drilled to test the conductor intersecting relatively weak zones of copper mineralisation with a maximum value of 0.81% copper.
Systematic exploration
"Our Arunta Project is a highly prospective asset located in a prime exploration jurisdiction and we are committed to unlocking its value through continued systematic exploration over the coming months,” Sivasmy continued
"Box Hole and Edwards Creek are excellent prospects, with significant discovery potential as demonstrated by historical exploration data and recent reconnaissance work completed by MGA.”