Australian Gold and Copper Ltd (ASX:AGC) has hit high-grade gold, silver, copper, zinc and lead in a reverse circulation (RC) drilling program at the Achilles discovery in the Cobar Basin of central New South Wales.
The company’s program struck relatively shallow mineralisation in several holes, including 12 metres at 2.2 g/t gold and 113 g/t silver from 86 metres and 6 metres at 3.2 g/t gold, 48 g/t silver and 11.1% lead from 58 metres.
There were also particularly strong base metal results from the northern zone at Achilles, grading up to 1.7% copper and 23.2% zinc and lead, as well as 211 g/t silver.
Highest copper grades to date
“Achilles continues to delight us with consistently strong, near-surface polymetallic mineralisation,” AGC managing director Glen Diemar said.
“This round of assays has delivered high grades within the oxide zone, which opens a previously untested and shallow search space to further explore.
“These RC results also returned not only the highest copper grades seen to date but also a brand-new copper zone away from any previously known mineralisation.
“We look forward to the diamond drilling assays and following up the potential of this new copper zone.
“With diamond drilling now complete, we are focusing on core processing and delivering the samples to the laboratory and will be excited to release the results as soon as they are ready.”
AGC has sketched out a 650-metre-long strike for the high-grade zone of relatively shallow mineralisation as well as a new copper target 600 metres northwest of Achilles.
Results from the new copper zone graded up to 23 metres at 0.3% from 127 metres, including a portion of 2 metres at 0.8% copper from 187 metres.
The company intends to target shallow oxide potential and additional targets along the 5-kilometre Achilles Shear Zone including the newly defined copper trend.
Assays of note
Results of interest from this latest set of drilling results include:
- 12 metres at 0.9 g/t gold, 211 g/t silver, 0.9% copper, 13.8% lead and zinc from 77 metres, including 2 metres at 2.0 g/t gold, 566 g/t silver, 1.7% copper, 23.2% lead+zinc from 78 metres, and 7 metres at 0.5 g/t gold, 134 g/t silver, 1.1% copper, 19.2% lead+zinc from 83 metres.
There were also several higher-grade zones within drill hole A3RC050, which returned 57 metres at 0.2 g/t gold, 47 g/t silver, 0.2% copper, 3.8% lead+zinc from 39 metres
A3RC050’s peak grades included 855 g/t silver, 3.4% copper and 37.2% lead+zinc.
Looking forward, AGC recently completed a further 10 holes over Achilles with a diamond drilling program totalling 2,756 metres, with core processing underway – the company expects the first assays to be available in November.
The diamond drill program included a deep hole to test the large induced polarisation (IP) chargeability feature on the western margin of the Achilles Shear Zone.
AGC has designed a busy schedule for the next four months at Achilles:
- October 2024 - Diamond core processing continues.
- November 2024 - First Achilles diamond drilling assays.
- November 2024 - Achilles 3D modelling continues.
- November 2024 - Drone magnetic surveys at South Cobar’s Achilles Shear Zone and the Planet target.
- November 2024 - Target generation continues.
- December 2024 - Final Achilles diamond drilling assays.
- January 2025 - Planned drilling along Achilles Shear Zone targeting extensions and new discoveries.