Sipa Resources Ltd (ASX:SRI) has hit the ground running with a diamond drill campaign to test base metal targets at the Barbwire Terrace joint venture project in WA.
The resources stock is working with oil and gas player Buru Energy Ltd (ASX:BRU) via its wholly-owned subsidiary Battmin Pty Ltd, to explore the territory under a 50/50 joint venture agreement, wherein Sipa serves as operator.
Together, both parties plan to drill four holes 500 metres deep, testing targets along the southwestern margin of the Fitzroy Trough.
Sipa Resources managing director Pip Darvall said: “It is great to get the drilling underway at Barbwire, where we are testing some big base metal targets.
“While a mineralised intersection is obviously first prize, success will also include hitting the prospective stratigraphy in a structurally favourable location, which will help us vector into a deposit.”
Digging deeper
Sipa and Buru are out to test two potential carbonate host units.
Previous explorers have identified these potential host units in regional drill programs, including numerous oil and gas wells.
As a result, the goal of the current drill program is to test for these units in favourable settings for mineralisation.
In preparation for the drill program, the JV partners undertook a comprehensive review of the available geological, geophysical and seismic data and completed detailed gravity surveys over specific target areas to finesse drillhole locations.
Site preparations were recently completed with assistance from local cultural monitors, while the drill program is being supported by the Western Australian Government’s Exploration Incentive Scheme (EIS).
The JV is also providing support for a PhD student, based at the University of Queensland, whose research will contribute to the overall hunt for new, high value, base-metal deposits in this little-explored region.
Battmin now "an active explorer"
Battmin was initially formed to apply the geological knowledge Buru had acquired in its extensive petroleum exploration activity in the Canning Basin to the exploration for minerals formed by similar processes, and often in association with, oil and gas accumulations.
Buru’s executive chairman Eric Streitberg said: “We are delighted that Battmin has gone from a geological concept to an active explorer.
"The recognition by Buru’s technical team of substantive mineralised sections in deep petroleum wells led us on a quest to find similar deposits at mineable depths.
"The joint venture with Sipa has provided the expertise in the minerals sector that we needed to make the concept a reality and we are very pleased with the professional way in which they have undertaken the project.
"The potential size of these targets is very material and the basin holds many analogous deposits, so we look forward to a successful program.”