Alice Queen Ltd (ASX:AQX) has started drilling at its Mendooran Project (EL8469), in the Lachlan Fold Belt of NSW, to test the northern extension of the highly prospective Molong Volcanic Belt for undercover large copper-gold bearing porphyry systems
The company has obtained all approvals to access the Goonoo Goonoo State Conservation Area for exploration drilling, being the first company to achieve this level of approval.
Drilling of the first hole of a planned two-hole for 1,200 metres maiden mud-rotary-diamond drill program is underway to test for large Ordovician copper-gold porphyry systems in the northern Molong Volcanic Belt basement rocks, which lie under sedimentary basin cover sequences.
Huge opportunity for Alice Queen
Alice Queen’s managing director Andrew Buxton said: “This is a very exciting and highly rewarding time for Alice Queen following an extended application process over the past few years at Mendooran.
“We are grateful to have been given the green light to test these significant targets within the Goonoo Goonoo State Conservation Area, which encompasses a buried part of the highly prospective northern Molong Volcanic Belt.
“Being the first movers to drill test Paleozoic basement rocks within this area provides a huge opportunity for Alice Queen to potentially make a discovery.
“This is exactly what grassroots exploration is all about and the team at Alice Queen is thrilled to be on the ground doing what they love.
“I look forward to reporting our results to shareholders as the program progresses.”
Surface feature outlines over RTP magnetic Image
The drilling program
Alice Queen has put in significant time and effort over the last two years to conduct exploration drilling.
The company is the first one to get all regulatory approvals and be able to start further drilling in this highly prospective location.
The target features to be tested in this maiden drilling program are broad magnetic high anomalies, interpreted to represent magnetite-bearing Ordovician volcanic rocks that may have the potential to host significant copper-gold bearing intrusive porphyry systems.
The anomalies span 22 kilometres along strike of the tenement and this initial program aims to test two locations in the south as an initial guide to the area’s prospectivity.
The drilling is co-funded by a $200 000 new frontiers cooperative drill Funding Grant from the NSW Government.