Surefire Resources NL (ASX:SRN) is planning a maiden drilling program in the quest for copper sulphides at the Phat Boy prospect within its 100%-owned Yidby East Project in Western Australia’s Mid-West.
In preparation, the company has submitted a Program of Works (PoW) to the Department of Energy Mines Industry Regulation and Safety (DEMIRS) in WA for an initial 11-hole reverse circulation (RC) drilling program.
Site access will initially be from existing tracks in the area with additional tracks where required. Site works in preparation for the drilling will begin upon approval of the PoW.
About Phat Boy
The Phat Boy prospect is on the southern portion of E59/2426 where previous exploration highlighted native copper and sulphides during a drilling program investigating the Banded Iron Formation (BIF) as a magnetite resource, within a package of interpreted submarine volcanic rocks.
Surefire is conducting follow-up soil sampling over the highly anomalous copper and zinc recovered from initial soil sampling on the northern flank of the BIF, and plans to drill test the targets.
“A prudent step”
Managing director Paul Burton said: “Surefire is of the view that the high tenor of soil results, coupled with the presence of gossanous material and the previous occurrence of native copper and sulphides, makes this early planning for drilling approvals a prudent step as we advance this exciting program.“
The company plans to drill an initial 11 RC holes to a maximum depth of 200 metres for a total of 2,200 metres.
These will be focused on the four target areas (T1-T4) which are to the east of the company’s Yidby Gold Project and Money geochemical target.
Location map.
Golden Grove similarities
Phat Boy consists of four coincident copper and zinc anomalous zones delineated along the margin of an inferred shear zone adjacent to an outcropping folded BIF over a distance of 3 kilometres.
The project is interpreted to sit within a similar geological and structural setting to the world-class Golden Grove massive sulphide deposit.
Surefire intends to investigate the potential of the area to host massive and disseminated sulphide mineralisation.
Volcanogenic massive sulphide (VMS) and volcanic-hosted massive sulphide (VHMS) deposits are major sources of zinc, copper, lead, silver and gold.
They typically occur as lenses of polymetallic massive sulphide that form on the seafloor in submarine volcanic environments and are classified according to base metal content.