Alice Queen Ltd’s (ASX:AQX) latest drilling campaign at its Mendooran Project within the Molong Volcanic Belt (MVB) of New South Wales has extended the target area.
Recent drilling by the gold and copper explorer has confirmed that prospective Macquarie Arc rocks lie a further nine kilometres to Mendooran’s north.
While work at the project is still in its early stages, confidence is building thanks to other discoveries in the area that is within the prolific Lachlan Fold Belt.
Mendooran lies in close proximity to Alkane Resources Limited’s (ASX:ALK) recent Kaiser-Boda discovery which cemented the area as a hotspot for copper-gold finds.
A map that outlines the boundaries of Alice Queen's Mendooran exploration licence.
Mendooran: an under-explored asset
Speaking to the drilling progress, Alice Queen chief technical advisor John Holliday said: “With over a 40-kilometre extent of projected under cover Macquarie Arc rocks to explore and only five holes to date, the exploration of the Mendooran Project is at a very early stage.
“Given the frequency of extensive mineralisation further south on the exposed part of the Molong Volcanic Belt, it is very likely there will be a similar occurrence in Mendooran.
“I look forward to further drilling, particularly in the cross-arc structure area.”
New work echoes historical exploration
During its latest exploration campaign, Alice Queen drilled two holes within its Mendooran exploration licence, targeting magnetic features that pointed to MVB rocks.
Work was funded via a $200,000 NSW Government Co-Operative Drilling Grant, provided under the New Frontiers funding scheme.
Promisingly, one hole intersected andesitic rocks from 346 metres to end-of hole, with lithogeochemical analysis indicating these rocks correlate to finds at Alkane’s Boda prospect and other parts of the volcanic belt in the south.
Interestingly, this isn’t the first time a drill rig has conducted exploration work at Mendooran copper-gold play.
In fact, a joint venture between Alice Queen and Newcrest Mining Ltd (ASX:NCM) drilled the last three holes at the Mendooran Project back in 2017. At the time, all three holes intersected MVB andesitic rocks from 200 metres.
Alice Queen believes there’s still much to explore at its copper gold asset. It vows to continue exploration with further drilling in the future.