Australian Gold and Copper Ltd (ASX:AGC) continues to turn the soil at the Achilles copper-gold-lead-zinc target, a key prospect within the broader Cargelligo Project in New South Wales’ Lachlan Fold Belt.
The precious and base metal explorer is halfway through a 500-metre diamond hole on the property, testing beneath an 85-metre copper hit uncovered during reverse circulation (RC) drilling.
This diamond drill hole is working directly below the 0.13% copper hit in a bid to intersect the prospect’s main copper target zone, which is thought to lie between 350 and 500 metres downhole.
The broader Cargelligo asset is just one of AGC’s projects in the central Lachlan Fold Belt, where it’s on the hunt for large, high-grade Cobar-style copper-gold and base metal deposits.
Diamond hole underway
While it’s still early days for the diamond drill hole at Achilles, it’s already beginning to show promise, with patches of moderate lead, zinc and copper mineralisation encountered so far.
The company stated: “The target zone for the best copper mineralisation is 350 to 500 metres downhole, so mineralisation this early in the hole is encouraging and demonstrates the system is still open in all directions.”
Ultimately, the Achilles diamond hole is designed to test:
- Underneath the broadest copper intercept — 85 metres at 0.13% copper from 165 metres in RC hole A3RC014, which is strengthening with depth towards the aerial electromagnetic (AEM) anomaly;
- The AEM anomaly for significant copper mineralisation;
- Multiple mineralised horizons; and
- Gain knowledge on the structural complexity for follow up drill targeting and help design future exploration as mineralisation is open undercover to the north, south and east.
The diamond bit is hunting for mineralisation underneath some previous mineralised hits, reported just a few weeks ago, which include:
- Encouraging copper results from A3RC013:
- 18 metres at 0.10% copper from 80 metres;
- 3 metres at 0.17% from 159 metres; and
- 12 metres at 0.10% from 167 metres.
- Drilling directly below A3RC013, returned broader results in A3RC014:
- 85 metres at 0.13% from 165 metres, including 1-metre at 0.59% from 167 metres, 25 metres at 0.20% from 206 metres and 1-metre at 0.53% from 215 metres; and
- 5 metres at 0.3% from 241 metres.
The broad copper zone in A3RC014, strengthening with depth from A3RC013, above an AEM anomaly is considered a significant drill target.
RC results are in
In the past, soil sampling at Achilles has confirmed the target as a 3-kilometre-long base metal prospect.
To better explore the target, AGC recently commissioned two phases of RC drilling. The first, comprising 17 holes, and the second, including 12 holes, have tested roughly 700 metres of the 3-kilometre target.
Now, assays from the final two holes in the phase two program have come in, returning:
- 43 metres at 669 parts per million (ppm) copper from 77 metres, with a maximum of 0.26% copper at 85 metres; and
- 81 metres at 567ppm copper from 48 metres, also with a maximum of 0.26% copper at 68 metres.
Diamond tails were planned for several of the RC holes, however, due to ground conditions, these holes were blocked and could not be drilled further.
Despite this, AGC believes the current diamond hole is considered sufficient for a first diamond program at Achilles.
