Auravelle Metals Ltd (ASX:AUV) has kicked off a major new exploration phase at its Nuckulla Hill Project in South Australia, launching a detailed aerial magnetic survey across the full 40 kilometres strike of the Yarlbrinda Shear Zone to generate higher-resolution targeting data ahead of further drilling.
The company said the 9,400 line-km survey will be flown on 25 metres line spacing (with selected areas on 50 metres spacing), delivering a step change in detail compared with existing 200 metres-spaced datasets. Auravelle expects the results to help define new target areas and refine existing targets, building on a recent structural targeting review and soil sampling outcomes.
Nuckulla Hill Project showing the Aerial Magnetic Survey Area.
“Work is rapidly advancing at Nuckulla Hill on multiple fronts. A detailed magnetic survey is currently underway aimed at identifying and refining targets for new gold discoveries along the entire 40km strike extent of the highly fertile Yarlbrinda Shear Zone that sits within Auravelle’s tenements," Auravelle managing director Andrew Muir said.
“At Sheoak, we continue to improve our knowledge of the gold mineralisation. Down-hole televiewer surveys have been completed on a number of existing RC holes to give insights into mineralisation controls that cannot be gathered from the RC drill chips.
Drilling and testwork steps up at Sheoak
Work is also advancing at the high-priority Sheoak prospect, located within the Yarlbrinda Shear, where Auravelle recently reported 28 metres at 3.4 g/t gold from RC drilling. A down-hole televiewer survey has been completed to improve understanding of structural controls on mineralisation and support future drill planning.
In parallel, Auravelle is beginning preliminary metallurgical testwork at Sheoak, using bottle roll leaching on key mineralised intervals to assess early-stage gold recovery characteristics.
"Preliminary metallurgical test work is underway to provide a vital early-stage assessment of the recovery characteristics of the gold mineralisation to guide potential future development studies," Muir said.
“Sheoak sits within a zone of gold anomalism that has so far been defined over a strike extent of more than 600 metres. The next phase of RC drilling scheduled to commence in the coming weeks is designed to in-fill and extend this gold mineralisation both along strike and at depth.”
In-fill and extensional RC drilling at Sheoak is expected to start in the coming weeks, with the company also flagging discovery-focused air-core drilling at Nuckulla Hill from mid-Q2, followed by additional RC follow-up work after the pending RC and air-core programs.