Marmota Ltd (ASX:MEU) is well advanced with preparations for a reverse circulation (RC) drilling campaign, scheduled to begin next month at the Aurora Tank Gold Project in South Australia.
In prepration for the program, the company has upgraded its operational capacity through the acquisition of the first company-owned earthmoving equipment.
This will allow Marmota to proceed with operations with less reliance on external contractors when preparing for drilling on both 100% owned and JV tenements.
Marmota's team has been onsite at the discovery for almost a week in preparations for the imminent RC program.
With the earthmoving equipment having arrived on site, work has started on preparing sumps and drill pads.
The following video highlights the arrival of the earthmoving equipment at Aurora Tank.
RC drilling program
Marmota is planning a program of 85 holes totalling about 10,000 metres in the prolific yet underexplored Gawler Craton.
The drilling is due to kick off early in April with the drilling team expected to arrive this weekend and the average hole depth is expected to be 117 metres to a maximum of 200 metres.
"The program will develop a number of parallel extensions that are still open and should enable us to complete work on an optimal open pit design,” says chairman Dr Colin Rose.
Program objectives
There are multiple objectives for the drill program, including testing further extensions to the new NW flank that has recently tripled in strike and produced strong intersections such as:
- 3 metres at 72 g/t gold from 66 metres including 1-metre at 197 g/t;
- 5 metres at 27 g/t from 38 metres including 1-metre at 105 g/t;
- 3 metres at 29 g/t from 63 metres including 1-metre at 74 g/t; and
- 4 metres at 15 g/t from 67 metres including 1-metre at 53 g/t.
It will also test sub-parallel extensions to the N and NE in parallel to the NW flank, extensions at depth targeting primary mineralisation and extensions to the east of the Aurora Tank mineralised zone.
Selected drilling will aid resource modelling and optimal pit design, or where previous holes were not deep enough.
The program also includes a number of holes that form part of the Accelerated Discovery Initiative (ADI) at Aurora Tank and on the surrounding Woorong Downs and Comet tenements.
These particular holes are jointly funded by the South Australian Government under a grant awarded to Marmota. Some of these holes are early-stage reconnaissance work.
About Marmota
Marmota’s gold exploration efforts are centred on the company’s dominant tenement holding in the highly prospective and significantly underexplored Gawler Craton, near the Challenger gold mine, in the Woomera Prohibited Defence Area.
Elsewhere in South Australia, the company’s Melton Copper Project is on the Yorke Peninsula and its uranium JORC resource is at Junction Dam adjacent to the Honeymoon mine.