Meteoric Resources NL (ASX:MEI) has intersected visible gold in the first-ever drilling undertaken at the Novo Astro Gold Project in Brazil.
The hole was drilled at José Prospect within a zone of strong alteration and veining below the historic Garimpeiro pit.
It intersected a 56-metre-wide zone of variable shearing and sericite-pyrite alteration.
Never drilled previously
Meteoric’s managing director Andrew Tunks said, “Novo Astro is a giant Garimpeiro mining centre that was very active in the 1980s which continues to be the site of small-scale mining even today.
“Over the years a considerable body of work has been compiled at Novo Astro by previous explorers including pit sampling, geological mapping, soil geochemistry and selective rock chip sampling.
“However, until Meteoric, it had never been drilled.”
Five holes completed
The company has completed five holes at the project with the first two of these logged and dispatched for assay.
Results are expected by the end of this month.
The first hole was drilled to a depth of 135 metres and intersected three zones of moderate to strong sericite-pyrite alteration - 52.5-54.1 metres, 70.2-80.1 metres and 118.7-120.1 metres - in porphyritic granite.
Fine visible gold was in the deepest zone, which corresponds with the projection of the high-grade mineralisation and veining within the pit.
Very fine-grained visible gold in hole NADD001, pencil tip is 0.5 millimetres for scale.
56-metre zone
A second hole intersected a 56-metre zone from 134 metres of variably sheared and altered porphyritic granite.
There are two significant zones of 7 metres from 134.2 metres and 8 metres from 182 metres which show intense sericite and pyrite alteration
Three other holes have been completed at Matteus Prospect and are being logged prior to being sampled with results expected in December.
Another rig
Another diamond rig has been mobilised from the Juruena project to fast track the Novo Astro exploration program with two rigs now drilling.
An extensive geophysical program, including IP and magnetics, has also commenced at Novo Astro.
Tunks said, “We are delighted to be the team that drilled the first hole into Novo and we are excited that our first drill hole has intersected visible gold.
“The visible gold was only noted after cutting the core in preparation for assaying. The presence of gold in the core confirms mineralisation and veining continues at depth beneath historical workings.
“Previous sampling of veins in the historic open pit at José returned grades in excess of 90 g/t gold.”
“Just the beginning”
“This is just the beginning of our exploration at Novo Astro,” he said, “and we have abundant targets to test and holes to drill.
“To advance the program, a second diamond drill rig was mobilised from Juruena to Novo Astro last week.
“As a geologist and explorer, drilling the first holes into a new project is always one of the most exciting times in the life of an exploration program and I look forward to bringing assay results to the market as they become available from late November.”