Northern Minerals Ltd (ASX:NTU) (OTCMKTS:NOURF) (FRA:NUN) plans to restart the second phase drilling campaign at Browns Range in the first week of June, following the end of wet season.
The drilling forms part of the company’s commitment to invest at least $5 million in exploration at Browns Range in 2020-21.
The upcoming campaign will also follow-up positive results from the first phase of drilling in late 2020 and investigate identified greenfield targets.
“Unlocking a greater endowment of mineral resources”
Northern Minerals CEO Mark Tory said: “We remain committed to unlocking a greater endowment of Mineral Resources at Browns Range through ongoing, targeted exploration campaigns.
“With the wet season in the Kimberley now passed, we have had a team on the ground remediating access roads and working on drill pads in advance of the second phase of drilling.
“The results from the first phase campaign in 2020 provided a greater level of confidence in our geological modelling, which informs this significant campaign due to start next month.
“Along with our program of further R&D test work through the Browns Range Pilot Plant in 2021, our exploration results will also feed into the current feasibility study on the development of a commercial scale beneficiation plant on site.”
The drilling campaign
The company has prepared a detail plan for drilling 8,500-10,000 metres of reverse circulation (RC), which is anticipated to take around six weeks to complete, following on from the 8,500 metres of first phase RC drilling completed at the end of 2020.
The second phase will be a combination of follow-up holes based on some very promising assay results returned in the first phase as well as some further greenfield target testing.
Follow-up holes are planned for the Banshee West prospect, which will build on the eight holes for 614 metres drilled as part of first phase drilling.
Best results from the 2020 drilling at Banshee West included:
- 12 metres at 0.43% total rare earth oxides (TREO) from 34 metres;
- 13 metres at 0.43% TREO from 23 metres; and
- 4 metres at 0.63% TREO from 41 metres.
Further drill investigation will be done in the vicinity of the Gambit and Gambit West deposits, following up on anomalous results from past drilling and surface geochemical programs and at the Rogue Prospect.
Northern Minerals has more than 2,300 square kilometres of tenure to evaluate at Browns Range.
Greenfield target
The company also plans to drill test some greenfield targets, including the Ripcord Prospect, around 700 meters to the north-west of the Dazzler Deposit where a surface geochemical anomaly was defined above the Gardiner Sandstone during fieldwork completed in 2020.
Other greenfield targets include the Pulse and Quicksilver prospects in the south-east area of its tenements near the Northern Territory border, targeting surface geochemical anomalies and mapped, mineralised structures.