Rumble Resources Ltd (ASX:RTR, OTC:RTRFF) has kicked off a significant diamond drilling campaign at the Earaheedy zinc-lead-silver project after receiving heritage survey clearance.
Earaheedy, which is 110 kilometres northeast of Wiluna in Western Australia, is gaining global attention due to its potential in zinc, lead and silver mineralisation.
The heritage survey, initially targeting the Chinook, Tonka and Navajoh resource areas within the licence E69/3464, has facilitated the start of a critical drilling phase.
Diamond drilling is projected to conclude by mid-December, with key metallurgical studies, including beneficiation testing, expected to kick off in the March quarter of 2024, following the receipt of the samples.
Enhance development qualities
Rumble interim managing director Peter Venn said: “Receipt of this heritage clearance allows us to commence the key beneficiation studies that will further enhance the development qualities of the Earaheedy base metal system.”
“The traditional owners and the Tarlka Matuwa Piarku Aboriginal Corporation RNTBC (TMPAC) have been instrumental in completing the heritage surveys and I thank them for their ongoing support and collaboration at the Earaheedy Project.”
Drill program
This drilling phase will primarily provide diamond core for essential metallurgical beneficiation trials, including dense media separation (DMS) and ore sorting.
These trials aim to assess the potential for upgrading lower-grade zinc-lead mineralisation.
A six-hole, 1200-metre PQ diamond drilling campaign has commenced, with the expectation of yielding around 1,000 kilograms of core material from the Chinook deposit area.
The Chinook deposit was previously reported to contain a resource of 63 million tonnes at 3.0% zinc plus lead and 4.6 g/t silver, based on a 2% zinc-lead cut-off.
Forward plan
In addition to the metallurgical focus on E69/3464, the company will also embark on discovery drilling at E69/3787 and E69/3464.
This will include extensional reverse circulation (RC) drilling at the high-grade Mato discovery and efforts to expand the resources at Chinook, Tonka and Navajoh.
An approximate 20-hole or 3000-metre RC program has now begun at Mato and is expected to be completed by mid-December, with assays available in March quarter.
Further RC and diamond drilling in 2024 is being planned to expand Mato and the known Chinook, Tonka and Navajoh resources within E69/3464, as well as target new high-grade MVT mineralisation.