Tempus Resources Ltd (ASX:TMR, TSX-V:TMRR) has kicked off its 2022 exploration campaign at the Elizabeth Gold Project in southern British Columbia, Canada.
The program officially began on May 30, when the company started diamond drilling EZ-22-01, a hole that targets the extension to the high-grade Blue Vein discovered last year.
“It is great to have the drills turning at Elizabeth again,” president and CEO Jason Bahnsen said.
“The focus this season is the expansion of the high-grade Blue Vein as well as the extensions to the Main and West Veins.
Updated resource on the way
“The overall target of the program this year is to increase the historical resource at Elizabeth to support the development of a high-grade mine that will utilise the existing fully permitted mill infrastructure at Blackdome, approximately 30 kilometres to the north of the Elizabeth Project.
“Tempus is planning to complete an updated NI43-101 resource estimate for the Elizabeth Project following the completion of the 2022 program.”
The company’s latest drill program aims to build on the success of an initial 39-hole diamond drilling program over 9,826 metres conducted at the Elizabeth project after exploration began in November 2020.
This time, Tempus plans to drill up to 30 drill holes over roughly 8,500 metres at Elizabeth, targeting the Blue Vein, and the Main and West Veins.
Rich Blue Vein
The Blue Vein was discovered in 2021, revealing an initial grade of 1-metre at 33.7 g/t gold.
Since then a total of seven holes have intersected the vein to date, including three holes with ‘bonanza’ grade intersections – greater than one ounce per tonne – and high-grade gold mineralisation identified over a strike length of roughly 80 metres.
Around 15 holes have been planned to target the expansion of the Blue Vein high-grade gold mineralisation along strike and depth. The drilling will test the Blue Vein gold mineralisation over a total strike length of around 300 metres and to a depth of 150 metres.
Several of the Blue Vein drill holes will be extended to intersect the southwestern vein at depth to test the continuation of high-grade gold below the depth of current drilling.
Main and West Veins
The West and Main Veins have seen minimal drilling in the past but high-grade gold mineralisation was identified in surface trenching done in 2003. This uncovered 55 g/t gold over 20 metres at the West Vein and 14 g/t over 20 metres at Main Vein.
A 10-hole campaign has been planned to target the potential extension of the Main and West Veins to the south of the surface trenching. Drilling will test the potential veins to a depth of approximately 200 metres.
Ella Zone
The Ella Zone was identified during trenching completed in 2003. Tempus drilled one hole in 2021, which intersected 1 g/t gold mineralisation over 2 metres within a 4-metre vein system.
Three holes have been planned to test the Ella Zone.
The company also plans around two to five additional exploration holes to test for additional vein sets, theorising that there is potential for new vein discoveries northeast of the Blue Vein and in the unexplored zone between the South-West Vein and the West Vein.