Zenith Minerals Ltd (ASX:ZNC) has started a second phase reverse circulation (RC) drill program comprising 31 drill holes for 2,600 metres at Split Rocks Gold Project in Western Australia.
The company completed flora surveys in late 2020 and will now begin follow-up drilling of the high-grade target areas of Dulcie North and the Far North.
Several RC drill holes along with an initial aircore drilling program of 60 holes are planned.
As part of the ongoing objective of defining a commercial scale gold inventory a high-level metallurgical gold extraction test work program will now being undertaken by ALS laboratories on 3 drill sample composites.
Sample preparation and collection will be completed in mid-February.
The drilling program is designed to test 6 target areas:
- Dulcie Laterite Pit Extension (9 holes) – testing a further 500 metres long zone to the south of the existing 1500 metres long gold mineralised target;
- Dulcie Laterite Pit Infill (10 holes) – focused holes to assess continuity of higher-grade gold zones;
- Dulcie North (3 holes) – follow-up testing of the high-grade gold zone with previous ZNC drilling including 32 metres at 9.4 g/t gold;
- Water Bore Target (6 holes) - following up on gold mineralisation identified in water exploration holes drilled by the Dulcie laterite gold operators;
- Zenith Dulcie Target (1 hole) –testing the western down-dip extension of gold mineralisation identified in previous ZNC drilling including 5metres at 2.5 g/t gold; and
- Target 3 (2 holes) –follow-up of near-surface gold mineralisation.
“Land package shows very positive signs”
Zenith executive chairman Peter Bird said: “As one of our core projects Split Rocks is going to get a lot of attention in the first half of 2021.
“Following on from outcomes in 2020, we continue to focus around the large-scale Dulcie laterite Pit Zone with the aim to aggregating a meaningful amount of commercial mineralisation.
“The rig has kicked off this week and we look forward to the results that it could generate.
“The overall land package is showing very positive signs with other targets within the favourable land package be investigated subsequently.”
Progress in 2020
During 2020 the company defined multiple gold targets (18 in total) that to date have yielded several gold mineralised areas that require additional work programs.
The most advanced to date is the Dulcie Laterite Pit project which is now interpreted to be a shear zone of over 2 kilometres of strike.
During the December quarter, a total of 27 RC drill holes for 3,026 metres were completed at the Dulcie Laterite Pit.
Gold zones appear to be locally stacked and open to the east, as well as down-dip to the west and. the current phase 2 drill program will test the southern limits of the Dulcie Laterite Pit area extending the drill coverage to 2 kilometres of strike length.
Besides, a further 10 holes will assess the continuity of higher-grade near-surface gold mineralisation.
Split Rocks Project gold targets and significant drill results (yellow captions) showing gold drill targets, and areas of planned drilling.
Split Rocks Gold Project
Gold Zenith’s Split Rocks project is within the Southern Cross region in the Forrestania greenstone belt, around halfway between Perth and Kalgoorlie.
A major targeting exercise by the company’s geological team identified 18 high-quality gold drill targets in the northeastern sector of the company’s 100% owned Split Rocks project.
First, pass testing of 10 of those 18 targets has been completed to date.
During the most recent quarter, a total of 27 RC drill holes for 3,026 metres were completed at the Dulcie Laterite Pit returning further strong gold results.
Split Rocks Lithium project
In addition to the gold targeting exercise, Zenith has also been systematically exploring its 100% owned Split Rocks project with landholdings of approximately 600 square kilometres in the Forrestania greenstone belt for lithium.
This emerging lithium district is host to SQM-Kidman’s Mt Holland/Earl Grey lithium deposit containing 189 million tonnes at 1.5% lithium oxide.