Emmerson Resources Ltd (ASX:ERM) continued to make headway at its cornerstone Hermitage Project in Tennant Creek late last year, with drilling activity defining the December quarter.
The precious and base metals explorer rounded out its 2021 drill campaign at the 100%-owned property with what it described as a “stunning” 117-metre hit, grading 3.38% copper.
Elsewhere in the Tennant Creek region, Emmerson continued to advance its gold prospects thanks to a 40% resource increase at the Chariot gold camp.
And in New South Wales, the company readied for a high-impact drilling campaign over the Kiola Gold-Copper Project in 2022.
Heading into the March quarter, Emmerson had $3.9 million in the bank to support its future operations.
Next on the agenda
Emmerson has a busy quarter ahead, with exploration planned across its project portfolio. Initiatives include:
- A large reverse circulation (RC) and diamond drill program at Emmerson’s 100%-owned Hermitage project;
- Advancing access to the Jasper Hills project with the custodians approving Emmerson’s work program and measures to protect sensitive sites;
- Completing the ultra-high resolution drone magnetic survey over the Southern Project Area at Tennant Creek;
- Finalising and approving drill programs for 2022 within the TCMG Joint Venture areas in Tennant Creek;
- Continuing advanced mine studies, including reporting of JORC resource estimates at Mauretania and Black Snake;
- Ongoing mine and environmental studies to advance Mauretania and Chariot to the TCMG mine schedule;
- Reporting awaited assay results from Edna Beryl and Hermitage; and
- Possibly kickstarting drilling at Kiola – subject to securing a drilling contractor and COVID protocols.
Turning the soil at Hermitage
Hermitage is one of a cluster of 100% Emmerson owned prospects on granted mining leases that occurs within the northern corridor at Tennant Creek.
These prospects incorporate North Star, Jasper Hills, Katherine Star and Northern Star in mining lease (ML 30177) and Edna Beryl Thrace, and Macedon in ML 705.
Hermitage has not seen any systematic, modern exploration, with the last exploration campaign ending in the 1990s.
This phase of Emmerson’s exploration program consisted of four RC holes aimed at establishing the thickness, grade and potential for extensions to historical mineralisation.
Drill hole HERC003 reported the 117-metre copper intersection, making it the 16th best copper intersection globally in 2021, according to an independent ranking by data platform Opaxe.
Notably, the reported intersection ranked ahead of Greatland Gold/Newcrest Mining’s drilling at Haverion discovery in the Paterson Province of WA and displays many geological similarities.
Assays from hole HERC004 and gold results from the native copper zone in HERC003 remain pending, as well as 1-metre sample splits of the 3-metre composites from all significant intersections in holes HERC002 and HERC003.
Ultimately, however, Emmerson believes this drilling has greatly enhanced the ranking and potential for economic gold, copper and cobalt mineralisation across the Northern Project Area, particularly within the northern gravity ridge that is host to several similar style iron-oxide copper-gold prospects.
Phase two diamond and RC drilling will recommence following the conclusion of the northern wet season and renewal of the clearance certificate.
Resource increase at Chariot
In late December, Emmerson reported a substantial mineral resource upgrade for the Chariot Gold Project.
Thanks to a 40% jump in the resource, the project is now reported to contain 556,200 tonnes of ore, grading 7.8 g/t for 138,000 gold ounces.
What’s more, the new Chariot resource estimate supports a conceptual high-grade 17.7 g/t gold open pit and a 6.3 g/t underground operation.
Chariot is one of several mines undergoing scoping studies by exploration and mining joint venture partner Tennant Creek Mining Group (TCMG) ahead of finalising the mining and production schedule.
Studies are also progressing over the high-grade Mauretania Gold Project.
High impact drilling ahead at Kiola
Emmerson’s Kiola project is one of the highest-ranked, early-stage gold-copper projects in the portfolio and is centred on the 15-square kilometre Kiola Geochemical Zone (KGZ).
It encompasses favourable Ordovician age rocks that display anomalously high gold and copper geochemistry plus historic workings.
Recent work has confirmed that the KGZ contains many of the attributes of world-class porphyry gold-copper mineralisation, and ERM has taken up an extensive fieldwork and surveillance campaign to examine its prospectivity.
Emmerson has also nabbed $118,000 thanks to a NSW Government grant to support a future drilling program at Kiola.
The company hopes to kick off drill-based exploration in the current quarter, pending rig availability and COVID restrictions.