Argent Minerals (ASX:ARD) has received regulatory approval for a diamond drilling program at its West Wyalong project located in central New South Wales.
The six-hole, 2300 metre program will test the Theia copper-gold porphyry target and the Narragudgil epithermal gold target.
This will be the first drilling conducted by Argent testing the Theia and Narragudgil geophysical targets.
The approvals are expected to allow Argent to begin drilling in the last week of February.
Positively, up to $200,000 of direct drilling costs will be co-funded by the State government and the drilling expenditure will result in Argent increasing its interest in West Wyalong to 70%.
Drill program details
The six-hole drill program has been designed for a total length of 2,300 metres with the deepest hole to reach 500 metres depth.
Five diamond holes have been designed to test the Theia copper-gold porphyry target and potential system over a strike length of 1.8 kilometres, with the deepest hole to be drilled to a depth of 500 metres.
The final diamond hole has been designed to test the Narragudgil epithermal gold target to a depth of 400 metres.
The drill plan has been developed using Argent’s conceptual model for the area, which has been derived from detailed analyses of geochemical and geophysical data.
West Wyalong project
The West Wyalong project is strategically positioned within an active gold producing region in central New South Wales.
The project is surrounded by major gold producers including Evolution Mining (ASX:EVN), Sandfire Resources NL (ASX:SFR), Goldfields and St. Barbara (ASX:SBM).
Evolution Mining acquired the Lake Cowal gold mine for US$550 million in July 2015 which is located 37 kilometres north of the West Wyalong project.
During October 2016, Argent received a major vote of confidence at West Wyalong by receiving a $200,000 grant awarded by the NSW Government for diamond drilling of gold/copper-gold targets.
The award represents the largest funding amount available to any single application out of the heavily contested ‘Round 2’ funding pool total of $2 million, capped at $200,000 per project.
Argent and West Wyalong were selected on the basis of technical and financial merit as assessed by an independent expert advisory panel.
Assays expected from Kempfield
While the drilling campaign at West Wyalong is approaching commencement, results from the 8-hole, 1,833 metre diamond drilling program at its flagship Kempfield project in New South Wales are expected in the short term.
Results have been received for the first hole, AKDD197, which encountered a shallow gold system, which is located to the south of the known deposit.
AKDD197 intersected 10.2 metres at 1.5 g/t gold from 28.0 metres including 5.0 metres at 2.6 g/t gold, 1.0 metre at 4.4 g/t gold and 1.0 metre at 5.1 g/t gold.
It also encountered a separate zone of 1.0 metre at 1.0 g/t gold from 48.4 metres depth.
Assays from the remaining seven holes are pending and keep investors leveraged to exploration based news flow.
Proactive's Spotlight CEO Sessions
David will be presenting for Argent Minerals in Sydney on Monday, 20th February and Melbourne on Tuesday, 21st February.
Click below to register :
- Sydney: Monday, 20th February.
- Melbourne: Tuesday, 21st January.
- Email Pauline here.
- Call office on (02) 9280 0700.
Presenter list
- Argent Minerals (ASX:ARD): David Busch.
- PNX Metals (ASX:PNX): James Fox.
- Danakali (ASX:DNK): Paul Donaldson.
- Oro Verde (ASX:OVL): Trevor Woolfe.
- Verdant Minerals (ASX:VRM): Chris Tziolis.