Emmerson Resources Ltd (ASX:ERM) (FRA:42E) has started a new 1,300-metre diamond drilling program at the high-grade Mauretania gold discovery within Tennant Creek JV Project in the Northern Territory.
The drilling will assist with geotechnical and baseline studies ahead of design of open-pit mine.
All the drilling will be funded by new joint venture partner Tennant Consolidated Mining Group (TCMG) as part of a $5.5 million exploration earn-in.
Mauretania prioritised
Emmerson managing director Rob Bills said: “It’s really pleasing to be commencing this next drill program at Tennant Creek just two weeks after entering into the joint venture with TCMG.
“We think this shows real intent by our new partner to build the future mining pipeline under its $5.5 million earn-in over the Northern Project Area (NPA) at Tennant Creek.
“This high impact drill program at Mauretania has the twofold purpose of better establishing the grade and scale of the bonanza gold zone plus providing baseline geotechnical data to support the design of a future open-pit mine.
“Preliminary favourable economics suggest Mauretania will be prioritised in the project pipeline for development studies that will include detailed pre-development drilling and baseline studies in early 2021.
“In addition, a number of similar ‘Mauretania look-alike’ targets in the NPA will be assessed during the wet season, for further exploration and drilling in early 2021.”
First diamond drill hole
The first diamond drill hole of the 1,300 metres program (MTDD009) has been collared and is already 30 metres down.
This hole is aimed to test the grade and continuity of the bonanza gold oxide zone, including a new geological interpretation that suggests untested potential within a larger hematite ironstone.
Along with confirming the grade and continuity, this drill program will also provide geotechnical information and start establishing baseline studies on the water table ahead of scoping and feasibility studies next year.
Greenfields discovery
Mauretania is a greenfields discovery identified from recognising that high-grade gold and copper are associated with hematite ironstones that have largely gone undetected up until Emmerson’s entry in the Tennant Creek Mineral Field in 2008.
Previous drilling at Mauretania has returned intersections including 22 metres at 35.9 g/t gold and 11 metres at 54.1g/t gold, demonstrating the bonanza grades which exist in the oxide zone.
Sunrise project
Following the completion of the program at Mauretania, a decision will be made as to whether the rig moves to the Sunrise project, 200 metres north of Mauretania, to complete two planned holes.
This will depend on prevailing weather conditions, given the start of the northern Australia wet season will close access until early 2021.
Sunrise is a similar, hematite ironstone target to Mauretania and represents one of many such targets that Emmerson will test in 2021.
Next steps
The progression of the Mauretania discovery has highlighted the potential for repeats of this style of high-grade mineralisation within the NPA.
As the manager and operator of the exploration earn-in and joint-venture in the Northern Project Area, Emmerson continues to apply its insights towards identifying a new family of hematite-hosted deposits at Tennant Creek.
It is currently working on establishing a pipeline of targets for drilling in early 2021 after the northern wet season.
This pipeline will consist of drilling some 100%-owned Emmerson projects which are outside the TCMG joint venture area, such as the Edna Beryl gold and Jasper Hills gold-copper-cobalt mineralisation, plus further targets in the NPA.