Emmerson Resources Ltd (ASX:ERM) has begun the hunt for copper-gold mineralisation in earnest at the Kiola Project in New South Wales, kicking-off a phase one, 3,000-metre reverse circulation (RC) and diamond drilling program.
The company is investigating several prospective copper-gold targets, generated with 3D modelling from soil and rock chip geochemical surveys and historical geological data.
“Phase 1 of our planned 3,000-metre drilling program is aimed at testing a selection of chargeable, conductive and magnetic targets within the 15-square-kilometre Kiola Geochemical Zone (KGZ), noting that there has been no deeper drilling within these zones to test for the source of the gold and copper mineralisation at depth,” Emmerson Resources managing director Rob Bills said.
“Emmerson, in combination with our geophysical consultants, has produced a compelling 3D model at our Kiola project in NSW.
“This new model suggests a connection between the surface mineralisation within the Kiola Geochemical Zone (KGZ) and a porphyry copper-gold system(s) at depth.”
Geophysical surveys pay dividends
The KGZ zone at Kiola is virtually untouched by deep drilling but geophysical surveying has revealed prospective geology similar to other porphyry deposits on the highly prospective Macquarie Arc belt of New South Wales.
“The Kiola 3D model has generated some compelling drill targets which will be tested in phase 1 and assist in further refinement of the model,” Mitre Geophysics principal geophysicist Kate Hine said.
“The Kiola MIMDAS geophysical survey produced some very strong anomalies that benefited from specialist inversion modelling.
“The integration of the magnetotelluric (MT) and induced polarisation (IP) data is aimed at producing the best possible understanding of the subsurface.
“The 3D MT model required the data to be sent to specialist MT experts in Germany for high power computations.”
Emmerson expects to complete the phase one drill program within four or five weeks, with assay results to follow soon after.