Impact Minerals (ASX:IPT) has commenced follow-up drilling at the high-grade Silica Hill gold-silver prospect within the Commonwealth project located 100 kilometres north of Orange, New South Wales.
The program will comprise up to 2,000 metres of reverse circulation and diamond drilling, of which about 500 metres is expected to be completed before Christmas.
Significant gold and silver mineralisation has been intersected in four drill holes so far at Silica Hill including 74.5 metres at 1.2 g/t gold and 106 g/t silver.
Mineralisation has been intercepted over an area of 200 x 100 metres down to a depth of 100 metres and with an average true thickness of circa 50 metres.
The drill program is designed to test for extensions to this mineralisation as well as further depth extensions to the Commonwealth deposit centred about 200 metres south west of Silica Hill.
Drilling at Silica Hill
The mineralisation comprises disseminated sulphide, veins and semi-massive sulphide veins.
Highlights from the four holes drilled and assayed include:
- 74.5 metres at 1.2 g/t gold and 106 g/t silver or 2.9 g/t gold equivalent from 61 metres;
- 48.6 metres at 0.5 g/t gold and 137 g/t silver or 2.5 g/t gold equivalent from 122 metres;
- 68 metres at 0.5 g/t gold and 43 g/t silver or 1.3 g/t gold equivalent from 99 metres; and
- 39 metres at 0.3 g/t gold and 16 g/t silver from 5 metres.
Grades within these intersections measure up to 3,600 g/t silver and 23 g/t gold.
The mineralisation is open in all directions including up-dip and is terminated by a fault suggesting further mineralisation may have been offset.
Connection between Silica Hill and Commonwealth deposit
The style and nature of mineralisation in discovered at Silica Hill is similar to that encountered within the Commonwealth deposit.
This demonstrates that the mineralisation at the two prospects is part of one larger system and may be linked at depth.
Areas where the two styles of mineralisation may connect will be priority target areas.
Analysis
The commencement of this new drilling program leverages Impact to further exploration news flow from a prospect known to host gold-silver mineralisation.
The high grade gold and very high grade silver results discovered there to date have recently been verified by experts.
Separate recent visits to Silica Hill by two world-renowned experts in this particular style of mineralisation have independently confirmed Impact’s belief that the discovery has the potential to grow significantly.
With 100% ownership of the Commonwealth Project, Impact will receive the full benefit of any success from this follow-up drill program.