Special Report: On the back of two very successful maiden drilling campaigns in the last six months, Sweden-focused Alicanto will hit the ground running in the next few weeks to refine some Tier 1 polymetallic targets for drilling.

Alicanto Minerals (ASX:AQI) has enjoyed considerable early success at its projects in the historic mining district of Bergslagen in Southern Sweden.

The explorer has now identified numerous undrilled ‘conductors’ at the Naverberg project.

Electromagnetic (EM) surveys map the electrical conductivity below the Earth’s surface to provide a detailed 3D picture – similar to a CT scan – that is used to map potential mineral resources.

Alicanto has discovered the EM conductors by reprocessing historical datasets from the Swedish Geological Survey (SGU). This is the first time in over 100 years that all available geophysical and geological info has been integrated into one dataset, Alicanto chief executive Peter George says.

“This is like gold to us and, combined with what we have learnt in the last 12 months, we are uncovering a lot of valuable information that is leading to new drilling targets in areas where we are confident of intersecting massive sulphide and skarn mineralisation,” George says.

“We are expecting to uncover more anomalies as further data becomes available and is processed.”

These newly discovered conductors are located along strike of the historic, high-grade Falun mine. Falun produced 28 million tonnes at 4 per cent copper, 4 grams per tonne (g/t) gold, 5 per cent zinc, 2 per cent lead, and 35g/t silver up to its closure in the 1990s.

Alicanto believes these conductors — coincident with altered rock and high-grade rock chip results mapped on surface — correspond to undrilled semi-massive and massive sulphide bodies:

EM conductor ‘SGC-7’ actually corresponds with the historic high-grade Skyttgruvan mine (12,300t of zinc equivalent produced at ore grading 38 per cent zinc and up to 10 per cent copper) which remains untested below the historic workings, only 180m below surface.

Alicanto has also identified a significant ‘gravity anomaly’ at the Kararvet target, coincident with up to 3.6 per cent zinc in rock chips. This represents a high priority drill target, the explorer says.

A new ground infill EM program will kick off in May to refine drill targets. George says it will be a very important field season.

“This field season will comprise of multiple geophysical surveys and geological field trips to build on what we have learnt and to drive the next drilling campaign,” he says.

“We are [also] very excited to see what the much larger gradient Array IP survey will uncover at Wolf Mountain.

“The maiden IP survey was the catalyst for discovering the skarn mineralisation and we believe the technology will help us vector in on the massive sulphide zone itself.”

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This story was developed in collaboration with Alicanto Minerals, a Stockhead advertiser at the time of publishing.
This story does not constitute financial product advice. You should consider obtaining independent advice before making any financial decisions.

 

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