Emmerson Resources Ltd (ASX:ERM) has returned a bonanza-grade gold intersection from the first diamond hole in a sparsely drilled primary gold zone at Mauretania Project in the Northern Project Area of Tennant Creek Mineral Field in the Northern Territory.
The precious metals explorer discovered a 3.95-metre intersection, grading 57 g/t gold, 0.22% bismuth, 20.6 g/t silver and 0.23% copper from 207 metres in hole MTDD010 at the greenfields discovery.
This result included 1-metre at 102 g/t gold, 47 g/t silver and 0.23% copper and 0.8 metres at 135.5 g/t gold, 40.2 g/t silver and 0.6% bismuth.
Shares rose in early trade following the discovery, with Emmerson stock up as much as 15% to 7.7 cents per share.
Broadens potential for high-grade gold
Emmerson Resources managing director Rob Bills said: “This first drill intersection in the current program demonstrates the unexplored potential beneath the known oxide gold mineralisation at Mauretania.
“Previous drilling was focused on delineating the shallow mineralisation amenable to open-pit mining; however, this bonanza intersection now greatly expands the potential for high-grade gold in the underlying primary zone — some 100 metres below the current modelled open pit floor.
“Once all the assay results are received, further drilling will be planned to test for extensions of this primary mineralisation that is open in all directions but likely controlled by the WNW and ENE faults – representing the feeder or conduits to the mineralising fluids.
“Emmerson has a strong pipeline of high-grade gold, copper, and cobalt projects at various stages of exploration.”
Drilling at Mauretania
Today’s results come after a previously unsuccessful attempt to drill the bonanza hole at Mauretania: last year, Emmerson set out to drill MTDD010, but the hole terminated prematurely at 106 metres because of the wet season.
Following the initial setback, Emmerson was determined to explore MTDD010’s potential and set out to redrill the target in 2021.
Together with results from hole MTDD009, Emmerson considers the latest assays “highly encouraging” and says the results follow the Tennant Creek Mineral Fields’ pattern of near-surface bonanza style oxide gold, followed by copper at the base and primary gold below.
Earlier this year, MTDD009 intersected similar primary mineralisation, returning an 8.8-metre hit at 3.44 g/t gold from 181 metres, including 2 metres at 9 g/t from 186 metres.
The hole also uncovered a further shallow, high-grade copper zone, intersecting 12 metres at 2.5% copper, 0.26 g/t gold and 0.14% cobalt from 85 metres, including 2 metres at 4.1% copper from 90 metres and 9.5 metres at 0.17 g/t gold from 60 metres.
Assays from the remainder of the 1,700-metre exploration campaign, which primarily consisted of reverse circulation drilling and covered 10 step-out holes, are expecting in late July or early August.
To drive aggressive gold exploration in 2021
As it works to unlock Tennant Creek’s potential, Emmerson has partnered with Tennant Consolidated Mining Group (TCMG) to explore the asset’s northern and southern regions.
Under an exploration and earn-in joint venture (JV), TCMG will provide $10.5 million to fund exploration across Tennant Creek’s Northern Project and Southern Project areas.
Both parties have also entered a small mines JV, providing Emmerson with a substantial royalty guarantee, and a major mines agreement, meaning the ASX-lister retains up to a 40% stake in any major discovery at Tennant Creek.
Ultimately, this strategic alliance establishes a 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 the funding package, a drone magnetics survey is currently underway, aiming to generate new greenfields discoveries at Tennant Creek.
More broadly, the explorer is working alongside TCMG to undertake advanced scoping studies on the Mauretania, Chariot, Malbec West and Black Snake projects. It is anticipated these will lead to JORC-compliant resource estimates in late 2021 and will provide feed for the central mill, with TCMG covering all costs associated with this phase of work.
In tandem, Emmerson has lined up drilling programs at the Black Swan and Susan projects as part of a mission to explore and uncover new gold projects and extend existing discoveries.
MD Bills said: “The greenfields discovery at Mauretania is one of our most advanced projects with open-pit optimisation studies to benefit from the results of this current drill program. 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 at Tennant Creek.
Given the favourable economics of the proposed Mauretania open pit, this project is a priority in the TCMG mining schedule.
“TCMG are 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 forecast to be operating in 2022.”