Elementos Ltd (ASX:ELT, OTC:ELTLF) has kicked off a nine-hole, 1,590-metre diamond drilling program at Oropesa Tin Project in Spain with hopes of emulating the success of its 2021 program which resulted in a 50% increase in mineral resources.
One of the two main objectives of the campaign is infill drilling to convert the remaining inferred resources within the proposed US$30,000 per tonne mining pit shell to a targeted minimum category of indicated.
These resources were identified in the project’s optimisation study and represent 6% of the 15.5 million tonnes 2022 production target.
Exploration drilling
The second objective is exploration drilling to test possible mineralised extensions to open-ended mineralisation trends outside the current mineral resource that were identified in the 2021 drilling campaign.
Plan of the Oropesa Tin Project mineral resource.
Elementos plans to complete infill drilling and a subsequent mineral resource estimate update before finalising definitive feasibility study (DFS) mine planning to ensure these tonnes can be considered during the assessment of ore reserves.
This DFS is forecast to completion in the first quarter of 2023.
The follow-up exploration drilling program over 1,200 metres will be finalised while infill drilling is underway.
To target three zones
Three zones – A, B and C – will be targeted in the exploration drilling program.
Plan of the location of untested zones to be included in the 2022 follow-up exploration diamond drilling program.
Zone A
The initial area for follow-up investigation in this program is possible extensions to shallow, near-surface mineralisation towards the south-eastern end of Oropesa’s mineral resource.
Zone B
Earlier this year Elementos completed a geotechnical drilling program which returned some significant intersections of tin, copper and zinc mineralisation outside the boundaries of the current mineral resource.
Significant results from drill hole SGT 04, including 10.2 metres at 0.16% tin, 0.54% copper and 10.1% zinc from 100.6 metres and 16.25 metres at 0.37% tin, 0.21% copper and 2.59% zinc from 123.8 metres, are within Zone B.
The company's upcoming drilling will investigate a potential northwest extension to the known mineralisation.
Zone C
A second area of immediate interest that resulted from the recently completed geotechnical drilling program, Zone C, is adjacent to the north-central region of the mineral resource.
Drill hole SGT_13B intersected a significant zone of tin, copper and zinc, including 13.0 metres at 0.42% tin, 0.13% copper and 1.96% zinc from 168.4 metres, at the margins of the current mineral resource.
This mineralisation trend is open to the northwest and will be investigated further during the exploration drilling.