West Wits Mining Ltd (ASX:WWI) welcomes the start of drilling at its Mt Cecelia Project in the Paterson Province of WA, overseen by Rio Tinto (ASX:RIO) Exploration Pty Ltd (RTX) as part of a gold and copper joint venture between the two companies.
High-priority target
Farm-in partner RTX has commenced proceedings at the high-priority target, SGC_1, in the far north of the tenement, with track clearing and site preparation.
Access tracks and drill pads have been cleared for six drill-site locations to test SGC_1 anomalies identified from airborne and ground electromagnetic (EM) surveys conducted by WWI.
RTX plans to achieve an initial 800-metre minimum of reverse circulation (RC) drilling across three priority drill sites at the target.
Managing director and CEO Jac van Heerden said: “Commencement of drilling at our Mt Cecelia project by farm-in partner Rio Tinto Exploration transitions this highly prospective exploration tenement into an exciting stage of exploration.
“RTX’s regional expertise, workforce and funding enables the company to progress Mt Cecelia’s promising EM results while the West Wits team focuses on executing the development strategy at WWI’s 4.28-million-ounce gold project in South Africa.
“The company looks forward to tracking RTX’s progress on this first pass drilling in the world-class exploration region of Western Australia.”
Drilling operations at the first drill hole, WEWI0001, which has a target depth of 300 metres.
The targets have been pinpointed for EM anomalies identified from airborne and ground surveys conducted by West Wits in 2020 and 2021.
These anomalies are interpreted as potential bedrock conductors that may represent base metal sulphide mineralisation.
Why this target?
SGC_1 was singled out as the highest priority target via the SKYTEM survey given the clearly discrete nature of the anomalism and correlation with a zone of de-magnetisation in the local sequence.
Resultant MLTEM survey data confirmed the presence of a strong, localised bedrock conductor.
The conductor is situated either within a zone of local de-magnetisation or at the contact of a complex magnetic unit and represents an immediate drill target.
Issue of Milestone 2 shares
WWI will issue 35 million ordinary shares for the commencement of an RC drilling program at the Mt Cecelia project – Milestone 2 shares – to the vendors of Northern Reserves Pty Ltd (Mt Cecelia - Exploration Tenement) as part of the purchase consideration.
Shareholder approval for this move was obtained at the WWI General Meeting held on January 18, 2018.