Antipa Minerals Ltd (ASX:AXY) has identified high-grade gold mineralisation during aircore drilling at the Chicken Ranch prospect within its Paterson Project in northern Western Australia.
The 195-hole, 10,105-metre drilling program aimed to identify new mineralisation in proximity to the historic drill-defined high-grade gold mineralisation, including parallel trends.
Assays from a further 60 drill holes are pending, as well as results from a 16-hole reverse circulation (RC) drilling program that focused on Chicken Ranch’s immediate resource opportunity.
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Highlighted results from Chicken Ranch include: 12 metres at 7.21 g/t gold from 28 metres, including 6 metres at 13.66 g/t from 28 metres; 10 metres at 3.57 g/t from 45 metres, including 2 metres at 7.85 g/t from 48 metres; and 3 metres at 5.26 g/t from 48 metres, including 1 metre at 14.12 g/t from 48 metres.
These results, together with historic drill intersections, confirm the high-grade gold potential of the area, which is 25 kilometres south of the company’s existing Minyari Dome mineral resources.
Historic intersections include: 16 metres at 6.6 g/t from 65 metres, including 5 metres at 18.9 g/t; and 22 metres at 4.3 g/t from 23 metres, including 4 metres at 18.3 g/t and 6 metres at 3.9 g/t.
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Antipa has also identified through field mapping a new zone of mineralisation in the southwest of Chicken Ranch, with 22 rock chip samples confirming the potential new zone.
Of the samples, 11 returned results greater than 1 g/t gold and maximum grades of 23.1 g/t, 0.11% copper and 0.16% cobalt.
Ongoing exploration activities in the Chicken Ranch area for the remainder of the year include:
Possible follow up drill testing;
3D geological modelling and mineral resource estimation; and
Turkey Farm prospect drill planning, including a heritage survey.