Tempus Resources Ltd (ASX:TMR, TSX-V:TMRR) has filed an amendment to the Notice of Work (NoW) for its Elizabeth Gold Project in Southern British Columbia to re-establish and extend the existing Lower Portal underground adit for underground exploration drilling.
The current drill program at Elizabeth is focused on the South West Vein.
Extended access from the historical Lower Portal adit will provide an ideal position for drilling along strike to the north of the South West Vein.
The development plan will lengthen an existing 880-metre drift by about 100 metres and excavate a 300 metre crosscut parallel to the South West Vein, with a planned eight exploration drill bays for drilling on about 50 to 100 metre centres.
Lower Portal adit exploration drift development
In total, 7,600 metres of drilling is proposed over about 50 holes to extend the resource of the South West Vein.
This expands Tempus current 12,000-metre drilling program at Elizabeth to 19,600 metres.
Tempus President and CEO Jason Bahnsen said: “Utilising the existing underground development adit provides the ideal access for drilling the lower extension of the South West Vein at Elizabeth.
“This will allow for much more efficient drilling of this northern ore shoot zone along strike with the target to significantly expand the existing resource at Elizabeth.”
South West Vein drilling
Underground development on the Elizabeth Gold Project was first established in the mid-late 1940s when the Upper and Lower exploration adits were established on the project.
The most recent underground exploration work was completed in 2011 where 4,175 meters was drilled to form the ‘Upper’ underground development.
Drilling the northern section of the South West Vein from underground significantly reduces the length of the drill holes to intersect the target areas and will allow for easier exploration drilling during winter months.
In 2011, about 4,175 metres of drilling was completed from the Upper Portal access at Elizabeth.
Current surface drilling on the northern section of the South West Vein extends about 150- 200 metres depth from surface.
Ideal base for extending current resource
From the planned underground drilling locations off the 2050 mrl Portal adit, Tempus will access the South West Vein from about 300 to 400 metres below surface providing an ideal base for extending the current South West Vein resource below the vertical extent of existing drilling.
Tempus has drilled a total of 19 holes on the South West Vein at Elizabeth since June.
Assays have been received on the first four drill holes completed this year and assays are pending on the remainder.
Surface drilling is focused on extending the strike of the South West Vein to the south to begin testing the extension of the vein sets as potentially identified by the geophysical survey results announced on August 13, 2021.