Emmerson Resources Limited (ASX:ERM) (FRA:42E) and joint venture partner TCMG have started a 1,700 metres diamond and reverse circulation drilling program seeking further high-grade gold at the Tennant Creek Project.
The program, which is fully funded by Tennant Consolidated Mining Group (TCMG), is focused on the high-grade Mauretania and West Gibbet projects with assay results expected in July.
Drilling at Mauretania will test for extensions of the deeper primary gold mineralisation to assist geotechnical studies and advance the final open pit design.
West Gibbet drilling will test for shallow high-grade gold amenable to open-pit mining.
Advanced project
Emmerson’s managing director Rob Bills said: “Emmerson has a strong pipeline of high-grade gold, copper and cobalt projects at various stages of exploration.
“The greenfields Mauretania discovery is one of our most advanced projects with pit optimisation studies to benefit from further drilling.
“Drilling at West Gibbet, which has seen some previous exploration activity by Emmerson, will be used to test and extend shallow high-grade gold mineralisation.
“Our joint venture partner TCMG is fully funding the drill program at Mauretania as part of the $5.5 million earn-in over the Northern Project Area.”
Mauretania drilling
Mauretania is within the Northern Project Area (NPA) of Emmerson’s Tennant Creek project.
It is a greenfields discovery that recognised the association between high-grade gold, copper and hematite ironstones that had largely gone undetected before Emmerson entered the Tennant Creek Mineral Field in 2008.
The hallmarks of the company’s discoveries at Edna Beryl, Goanna, Monitor and now Mauretania include high grades of both copper and gold and their association with hematite dominant ironstones.
Bills said: “Preliminary favourable economics suggest Mauretania will be prioritised in the TCMG mining schedule.
“TCMG is in the advanced stages of a feasibility study to build a central processing hub at Tennant Creek.
“This hub will process ore from multiple sources in the Tennant Creek district and is anticipated to be operating in 2022.”
West Gibbet drilling
West Gibbet is one of many gold targets in the Southern Project Area that is undergoing a re-evaluation.
These targets along the so-called ‘Wine Line’ are close to existing infrastructure and part of a strategy to re-establish a mining hub in proximity to the historic Chariot and Malbec West mines.
Historic drilling by Geopeko in the 1970s also intersected high-grade gold at depth.
Emmerson’s initial program will focus only on the potential for shallow gold in the oxide zone and consist of five RC holes for a total of 700 metres of drilling.
Strategic alliance with TCMG
The company has a strategic alliance with TCMG for the NPA aimed at driving aggressive gold exploration, production and royalty streams.
Key terms of the alliance include:
- $5.5 million exploration earn-in and JV in the Northern Project Area; and
- A Small Mines JV (SMJV) with a free carried 6% gold gross revenue royalty for production from small mines (250,000 ounces gold equivalent).
This alliance establishes a well-funded pathway for the development of Emmerson’s high-grade gold projects and provides substantial new funding for exploration to continue to build and advance the resource pipeline.
As part of this funding, and consistent with Emmerson applying new technology to make discoveries, a large drone magnetic survey is underway.
The resolution of this survey is superior to historic, fixed-wing surveys due to the drone being able to fly 15 metres above the ground and on 10-metre spaced lines.
Emmerson retains 100% ownership of the Jasper Hills and Edna Beryl projects and is advancing these through to planned drilling activities in 2021.
Next steps
Emmerson and TCMG are advancing on two major fronts, the first one is to undertake advanced studies on existing projects such as Mauretania and Chariot, which are expected to advance to JORC-compliant resources in late 2021.
The second is the exploration and discovery of new gold projects and/or extensions to existing projects and will entail applying new technological and geological concepts to build the early stages of the resource pipeline and to sustain the operations of the TCMG mill into the future.