Lightning Minerals Ltd (ASX:L1M) has reported a second batch of assays from its inaugural drilling program at the wholly owned Mt Turner Gold Project in Queensland, confirming shallow high-grade epithermal gold at Pit 5 (Drummer Girl) and returning significant zinc-lead-silver mineralisation at the Cobar prospect south of the Drummer Fault.
Key results
Pit 5 (Drummer Girl) — gold
25L1MP5DD002
- 3.9 m @ 3.6 g/t Au and 8.8 g/t Ag from 90 m, including 1.0 m @ 10.7 g/t Au and 17.4 g/t Ag from 90m; plus
- 1.0m @ 7.2 g/t Au and 10.4 g/t Ag from 67 m.
25L1MP5DD003
- 3.0m @ 2.8 g/t Au and 7.5 g/t Ag from 105m, including
- 1.0 m @ 6.3 g/t Au and 17.2 g/t Ag from 105m; and
- 2.2 m @ 1.9 g/t Au and 5.3 g/t Ag from 98.8m; and
- 1.0 m @ 7.6 g/t Au and 9.5 g/t Ag from 127m.
Plan view of Holes 25L1MP5DD001, 25L1MP5DD002 and 25L1MP5DD003 (Drummer Girl – Pit 5).
Cobar prospect — zinc, lead, silver
Drill holes 25L1MCOBDD001 and 25L1MCOBDD002 intersected the base-metal zone of the Mt Turner porphyry system, returning high-grade zinc, lead and silver mineralisation. The Cobar prospect lies about 4 kilometres south of the Drummer Fault, on the southern flank of the Mount Turner porphyry system.
25L1MCOBDD001
- 17.2 m @ 6.2% Zn, 1.4% Pb and
- 10.3 g/t Ag from 32m, including 5.0m @ 11.6% Zn, 0.5% Pb and 12.4 g/t Ag from 43.8m.
25L1MCOBDD002
- 12.4 m @ 6.2% Zn, 1.4% Pb and
- 24.2 g/t Ag from 17.6m, including 2.4 m @ 15.3% Zn, 4.1% Pb and 75.2 g/t Ag from 22.65m; and
- 0.6 m @ 19.7% Zn, 8.4% Pb and 150 g/t Ag from 22.65m.
Plan View of Hole 25L1MCOBDD001 and 25L1MCOBDD002 (Cobar).
Cobar Drill Core for Hole 25L1MCOBDD002 (27.1m downhole).
“We are excited that we continue to gain confirmation of high-grade epithermal gold mineralisation at Mt Turner,” Lightning Minerals managing director Alex Biggs said. “The purpose of this first drill campaign is to do exactly that and we are very pleased with what we are seeing. The Mt Turner project is a very target rich environment which we have proven with the discovery of large-scale, high-grade zinc-lead-silver mineralisation at the Cobar prospect which is related to the Mt Turner porphyry system. This is an important step in our exploration at Mt Turner as we are planning to target the Mt Turner porphyry in our next drill campaign. We still have pending results from drilling at Pit 6, the Rocky Reward prospect, which we are excited to see. That will round out our drilling assays from our inaugural drilling campaign at Mt Turner and a very successful first program. Also pending are assays from our soil and rock sampling which will further assist in drill targeting for the next round of drilling.
“We believe we are on to defining a significant gold system at Mt Turner with the added benefit of the Mt Turner porphyry now under investigation with potential for copper and other base metals now a real possibility. The team is underway planning follow-up drilling for what we feel is an exceptional opportunity for the company, particularly when we begin to compare our rhyolite intrusive thesis and mineralisation styles to proven, large-scale projects such as the Cargo porphyry deposit in New South Wales, Australia. The scale, mineral system and potential at Mt Turner is a strong impetus for the company to accelerate its exploration efforts.”
Program status and context
Assays are pending for the final two drill holes at Pit 6 (Rocky Reward) and for soil and rock-chip sampling.
The first round of assays returned significant gold at Pit 3, including 25L1MP3DD001: 20.4 m @ 2.4 g/t Au and 14.3 g/t Ag from 62 m, including 1.8 m @ 10.6 g/t Au and 27.1 g/t Ag from 77 m.
Read more: Lightning Minerals intersects high-grade gold at Mt Turner
Results to date confirm extensions of shallow mineralisation below historic open pits at Mt Turner and demonstrate polymetallic potential related to the Mt Turner porphyry system at Cobar.
Next steps
Assays are pending for the final two holes of the program drilled at Pit 6 (Rocky Reward), about 6 kilometres west of Pit 5, where extensions below and along strike of the existing open pit remain untested.
Soil and rock-chip sampling along the Drummer Fault and across reconnaissance-defined targets has been completed, with assays pending. These results will feed into a larger-scale targeting exercise across the broader Mt Turner project area.
The geology team is advancing plans for a follow-up drill program to extend known mineralisation both at depth and along strike. Work is also underway to refine the geological model, assessing the relationships between the Mt Turner porphyry, the Cobar Zn-Pb-Ag discovery, and gold emplacement along the Drummer Fault.
Confirmation of multiple gold and base-metal occurrences highlight the scale and prospectivity of Mt Turner and its target-rich setting.