Antipa Minerals Ltd (ASX:AZY)’s farm-in exploration partner IGO Ltd has opted to buy-in to the next stage of the Paterson farm-in project with an additional $26 million in exploration expenditure following a flurry of successful exploration over the quarter.
Tens of thousands of metres of reverse circulation (RC) and diamond drilling have been completed over all four of Antipa’s projects in Western Australia’s Paterson Province, with many thousands of metres in assay samples still awaiting delivery of results.
At quarter-end, Antipa held cash of about $11.9 million, including $1.6 million in cash held on behalf of farm-in parties.
Minyari Dome Project
The 100%-owned Minyari Dome Project exploration program constituted RC and diamond drilling of about 53,000 metres. Some 25,500 metres of assays are still pending.
Extensional and infill drilling designed to improve resource definition returned multiple high-grade gold and copper intersections, including but not limited to:
- 77.0 metres at 1.50 g/t gold and 0.20% copper from 13.0 metres (Minyari deposit);
- 45.0 metres at 1.42 g/t gold and 0.06% copper from 21.0 metres (Minyari deposit);
- 194.4 metres at 0.80 g/t gold and 0.06% copper from 527.0 metres (Minyari breccia);
- 20.7 metres at 1.97 g/t gold and 0.07% copper from 692.3.0 metres (Minyari breccia);
- 57.0 metres at 1.51 g/t gold and 0.05% copper from 127.0 metres (WACA deposit); and
- 76.2 metres at 0.90 g/t gold and 0.01% copper from 430.0 metres (WACA breccia).
Additionally, there were several greenfield gold-copper discoveries from 10,500 metres of exploration RC drilling within 3.5 kilometres of the Minyari resource:
Minyari South prospect (250 metres southwest of the Minyari resource):
- 9.0 metres at 10.80 g/t gold and 0.60% copper from 54.0 metres;
- 10.0 metres at 3.00 g/t gold and 0.60% copper from 98.0 metres; and
- 13.0 metres at 1.60 g/t gold and 0.10% copper from 31.0 metres.
Sundown target (400 metres west of the Minyari resource):
- 42.0 metres at 0.53 g/t gold and 0.20% copper from 125.0 metres.
Minyari results continue to extend the potential size of the mineral resource estimate (MRE) and enhance a project development opportunity, including as a potential standalone development.
The Minyari MRE was last updated in 2017 and currently sits at a combined JORC 2012 MRE of 723,000 ounces of gold at 2.0 g/t and 26,000 tonnes of copper at 0.24% for Minyari and WACA.
Citadel joint venture project
A significantly expanded exploration program was completed at the Citadel joint venture project in 2021, including Gradient Array Induced Polarisation (GAIP), detailed aeromagnetics and exploration drilling for a total of $25.4 million.
Drilling at the Calibre deposit extended the gold-copper-silver mineralisation outside the southern limits of the existing 2.1-million-ounce gold, 104,000-tonne copper and 1.3-million-ounce silver mineral resource, with key intersections including but not limited to:
- 10.6 metres at 2.12 g/t gold and 0.12% copper from 153.0 metres; and
- 31.9 metres at 1.07 g/t gold and 0.25% copper from 413.4 metres.
Rio Tinto and Antipa have agreed to a $10 million exploration program for the 2022 calendar year to follow up at the Rimfire deposit and test more regional targets.
Wilki farm-in project
The exploration program at the Wilki Project is fully funded by Newcrest Mining Ltd and operated by the company. Forty-three drill holes (7,422 metres) testing 12 greenfield and two brownfield targets were completed, with key intersections including:
- 2.0 metres at 1.15 g/t gold from 146.0 metres;
- 7.0 metres at 1.29 g/t gold from 156.0 metres; and
- 4.0 metres at 1.09 g/t gold and 0.17% copper from 211.0 metres
Newcrest has elected to proceed to the next stage of the farm-in agreement with a further $10 million in funding.
Paterson farm-in project
The Paterson Farm-in Project exploration program was fully funded by IGO and operated by Antipa, constituting 168 drill holes (11,346 metres) and a regional/project scale soil geochemical sampling programme (2,589 samples),
The exploration program was completed with a particular focus on the El Paso Structural Corridor, which hosts the Reaper-Poblano-Serrano gold-copper trend, and several new target areas.
Assays are pending and expected in Q1 2022.
IGO met its initial commitment of $4 million and elected to buy-in to the next stage of the Paterson Project, assuming management and committing to an additional $26 million in exploration expenditure to earn a 70% interest.