Strickland Metals Ltd (ASX:STK) has fielded further high-grade shallow gold from drilling at its flagship wholly-owned Millrose Project on the Yandal Greenstone Belt in Western Australia, including the discovery of a new mineralisation zone that enhances the project's economic potential.
Initial wide-spaced drilling north of Millrose has yielded a new oxide gold discovery that extends mineralisation at least 350 metres to the north, which remains open to the west. Additional drilling will be undertaken to test for extensions to the mineralisation to the north and west.
Highlights of the assays include:
- 37 metres at 1.6 g/t gold from 58 metres, including 9 metres at 5.6 g/t from 86 metres including 3 metres at 12.3 g/t from 86 metres;
- 53 metres at 1.1 g/t from 44 metres including 13 metres at 3.3 g/t from 84 metres;
- 12 metres at 4.9 g/t from 64 metres including 4 metres at 13.6 g/t from 68 metres;
- 4 metres at 2.3 g/t from 40 metres; and
- 4 metres at 1.3 g/t from 69 metres.
The company will undertake infill drilling to incorporate the new results into an updated mineral resource in 2023.
"Potential large scale"
Strickland chief executive officer Andrew Bray said: “We’re very pleased to provide further assays from our flagship Millrose Gold Project. These excellent results continue to demonstrate the potential large scale of Millrose, with Strickland’s systematic exploration programs to date having significantly grown the mineralisation footprint.
“There is an important, emerging story around the intersection of increasingly impressive shallow oxide gold results. Drilling along strike from the current mineral resource has intersected a coherent zone over 350 metres to the north, with mineralisation remaining entirely open to the north and west (up-dip from the results released today). New lenses have also been discovered directly above Millrose.
“None of these results are included in the current mineral resource model.
Oxide gold lenses
Drilling has also intersected new shallow oxide gold lenses above the existing resource, with results including:
- 3 metres at 14.8 g/t gold from 8 metres;
- 7 metres at 1 g/t from 4 metres;
- 11 metres at 2.4 g/t from 58 metres including 2 metres at 8.6 g/t from 65 metres;
- 2 metres at 1.2 g/t from 43 metres – extends current wireframe by 20 metres west; and
- 5 metres at 3.4 g/t from 82 metres.
Millrose North drilling
Resource drilling has also successfully mapped the northern extents of the north-plunging, high-grade Millrose North ore zone, with results including:
- 28 metres at 2.0 g/t gold from 101 metres;
- 21 metres at 2.0 g/t from 168 metres;
- 27.7 metres at 1.8 g/t from 234.3 metres including 10.7 metres at 3.1 g/t;
- 25.8 metres at 1.6 g/t from 244 metres including 8.8 metres at 2.0 g/t;
- 9.1 metres at 2.6 g/t from 178.8 metres;
- 10 metres at 1.6 g/t from 149 metres;
- 24 metres at 0.8 g/t from 145 metres;
- 11 metres at 1.1 g/t from 165 metres;
- 13 metres at 1.2 g/t from 187 metres; and
- 20 metres at 0.6 g/t from 203 metres.
Long section of Millrose North and newly discovered oxide gold mineralisation to the north
Ongoing exploration
“Discovery of additional shallow oxide mineralisation (above the existing fresh rock mineralisation) can potentially be of critical importance in mine development, allowing for a pit to be driven deeper in optimisation scenarios," Bray said.
"The company has also identified another 400-metre strike of known oxide gold mineralisation from historic aircore drilling at Millrose Central, which is also not included in the current mineral resource. A number of RC holes have been drilled in this zone, with assays expected in late September/early October.
“We’ve also successfully drilled three deeper diamond holes underneath the current mineral resource, following up on the very impressive intersection in MRDD008 (8.1 metres at 14.6 g/t gold from 215 metres, within a broader mineralised envelope of 95 metres at 2.2 g/t gold from 176.5 metres). This drilling suggests strong potential for further high-grade depth extensions.
“Finally, both RC rigs are systematically testing the shear structure to the north and south of the main Millrose domain. Fence lines of short RC holes on 200-metre step-outs are being drilled to accurately map the shear structure. This program is expected to be completed during September 2022, at which point the company will return to the most promising areas for further follow-up drilling.”