Emmerson Resources Ltd (ASX:ERM) has received results from initial drilling at Mauretania within the Tennant Creek Mineral Field (TCMF) in the Northern Territory.
Reverse circulation drilling intersected thick, high-grade gold, silver and copper with elevated bismuth and cobalt.
Highlights include 26 metres at 8.9 g/t gold, 85 g/t silver, 0.49% copper and 0.13% bismuth from 53 metres.
READ: Emmerson Resources signs deal to build processing facility for its small mines
Emmerson’s managing director Rob Bills said: “The success of this first round of drilling at Mauretania has confirmed the potential for high grades and expanding both the shallow and deeper mineralisation.
“Our aim is to include the project in our small to medium mines portfolio in support of the recent strategic alliance with Territory Resources.
“This portfolio of small mines can be monetised via processing at the refurbished Warrego Mill on a profit share basis and provide funding to continue our exploration program targeting larger mines at Tennant Creek and in New South Wales.”
Mauretania to be part of small mines strategy
Three of the five reverse circulation (RC) holes at Mauretania intersected significant mineralisation.
This latest drilling together with the geochemical footprint, now suggests great potential for down dip and strike extensions to the mineralisation.
Metallurgical test work will be completed on samples from the recent drill program in support of future development.
Bills added: "Encouragingly, much of the higher grade material at Mauretania is within the upper 100 metres and thus amenable to possible open pit mining."
Potential for shallow underground mine at West Gibbet
A single RC pre-development hole was also drilled at West Gibbet and intersected 7 metres at 7 g/t gold from 66 metres including 1 metre at 16.6 g/t gold and 2 metres at 12.4 g/t gold.
Previous drill results at West Gibbet intersected very high grades of 9 metres at 95.5 g/t gold within the oxide zone, some 74 metres from surface.
This recent new hole drilled was aimed at confirming the tenor of the historical drill hole and to provide a bulk metallurgical sample, ahead of converting this target to a small mine.
Upcoming drill program targeting Northern Corridor
Drilling of new high-value copper, gold and cobalt targets within the Northern Corridor at Tennant Creek is set to begin next quarter.
Bills added: "Emmerson’s exploration programs are designed to discover more of these high-value deposits and we await with anticipation, the results of the now completed airborne EM geophysical survey over the Northern Corridor at Tennant Creek.
"This survey is aimed at detecting the signatures of these systems through either directly detecting copper sulphides or the associated clay alteration at the base of oxidation.
"Thus our next drill program will be particularly exciting as it will be focussed on new hematite hosted, high grade, multi-metal (gold, copper, cobalt, bismuth, silver) targets generated from this geophysical survey."