Miramar Resources Ltd (ASX:M2R) is about to kick off a diamond drilling program at its Whaleshark Iron-Oxide Copper-Gold (IOCG) Project in the Ashburton and Gascoyne regions of Western Australia.
The company secured up to $180,000 through the West Australian Government's Exploration Incentive Scheme (EIS) co-funded drilling program for this initial diamond drill campaign at Whaleshark.
Heritage clearance in
What’s more, heritage clearance is in after Miramar wrapped up a heritage survey over the proposed drill hole locations and received the final report, clearing the way for drilling activities to commence.
Executive chairman Allan Kelly said the company believed that Whaleshark had the potential to host a significant IOCG deposit, like Ernest Henry, Carrapateena or Prominent Hill.
“Since commencing work at Whaleshark in mid-2021, we have defined a robust IOCG target which has been further validated by the recent successful EIS application," he said.
“IOCG deposits can be very large, and potentially very valuable, meaning exploration success at Whaleshark would have a very significant positive impact on our company’s valuation.
“We are therefore very excited to commence diamond drilling at Whaleshark in the near future.”
The company has made significant progress in its pursuit of IOCG mineralisation beneath the younger sediments of the Northern Carnarvon Basin at the Whaleshark Project.
High-priority bedrock targets
Miramar acquired the Whaleshark Project in 2020, and since the tenement was granted in early 2021, the company has identified high-priority bedrock IOCG drill targets within the Whaleshark granite.
These targets are based on a combination of factors, including mobile metal ion (MMI) surface geochemical anomalism, a gravity anomaly in the granite's 'neck' intersected by a northwest-trending structure, significant copper, cobalt, gold, and silver results in interface aircore drilling, and rare earth element (REE) anomalism consistent with published data from the Prominent Hill IOCG deposit.
Miramar has signed an agreement with a drilling contractor and is set to complete site preparation within the next two weeks.
The company aims to initiate diamond drilling at the Whaleshark Project by the end of the month.
Dooley Downs tenement
Miramar has also recently been granted E09/2647, part of the Dooley Downs Project within its Bangemall Projects.
The newly granted Exploration Licence covers the contact between the older Edmund Basin and younger Collier Basin and has potential for:
- Nickel-copper-PGE mineralisation associated with Proterozoic dolerite sills.
- Sediment-hosted copper mineralisation within the Edmund Basin evident by elevated results in historic rock chip and soil samples.