Argent maps out drilling frenzy to boost silver and reveal gold secrets

• Argent drilling to test high-priority silver and gold zones at Kempfield and Trunkey Creek Projects
• Trunkey Creek drilling to follow on rock chips of up to 216g/t gold by testing below and along strike of historical workings
• Kempfield drilling aims to extend silver resources, test new targets with precious and base metals potential

Special Report: Argent Minerals is gearing up for a multi-target drill program testing high priority zones at its Kempfield and Trunkey Creek projects in New South Wales.

The majority of the program will consist of maiden drilling at Trunkey Creek where it will test a 4.7km corridor of gold mineralisation delineated by surface geochemical anomalies and historical gold workings.

Rock chip sampling earlier this year returned assays as high as 216g/t gold, which go a long way towards explaining Argent Minerals’ (ASX:ARD) interest in unlocking the gold potential.

Doing so could provide future gold credits to the flagship Kempfield silver-polymetallic project that has resources of 65.8Moz silver, 125,200oz gold, 207,402t lead and 420,373t tin.

The program will see more than 45 RC and diamond holes totalling about 3200m drilled to test mineralisation extensions across Trunkey Creek as well as the Kempfield Main Zone, Kempfield NW, Kempfield IP zones, Henry and Golden Wattle prospects.

It has a particular focus on gold and silver mineralisation; though any copper, lead and zinc will also be welcome.

“This upcoming drilling program represents one of the most comprehensive exploration initiatives undertaken by Argent in recent years,” managing director Pedro Kastellorizos said.

“By systematically targeting high-priority zones at Kempfield, including newly defined targets like Sugarloaf Hill, and expanding our exploration into Trunkey Creek’s 4.7 km gold corridor, Argent continues to build momentum across our Lachlan Orogen portfolio.

“Kempfield already hosts a significant silver-polymetallic resource, and this program is designed to expand that resource base, while advancing our understanding of the mineralisation at Trunkey Creek.”

Kempfield and Trunkey Creek

Kempfield – Australia’s second-largest undeveloped silver deposit with a contained resource of 142.8Moz silver equivalent – sits southeast of Orange and about 40km from Newmont Corporation’s (ASX:NEM) giant Cadia operations within the Lachlan Orogen.

Perhaps better known as the Lachlan Fold Belt, the region is well known for its prospectivity with more than 110Moz of gold discoveries made to date around the Central Lachlan and Cobar mineralised districts.

While silver prices have moderated from highs past the US$50/oz ($76.86/oz) mark, they are still up a hefty 52.23% year on year at about US$48/oz.

This gives renewed impetus to plans for early production, which could be achieved through a heap leach starter processing oxide mineralisation to fund a carbon-in-leach/flotation hub to process the greater quantity of sulphide ore.

Trunkey Creek is ~5km east of Kempfield and covers extensive historical gold workings within the Hill End Trough.

Recent surface geochemical sampling and geological mapping have delineated a 4.7km strike of gold mineralisation.

This is supported by gold results, old workings and dumps quartz veining associated with structural deformation in altered sediments.

Along with other projects in the region, it offers major gold upside and the opportunity to establish a scalable, multi-deposit mine at Kempfield.

Drill program

ARD plans to drill 30 RC holes at Trunkey Creek to test beneath and along strike of the historical workings.

This will focus on finding orogenic-style gold systems analogous to those at Hill End and Lucknow.

It is also expected to provide critical data to guide ongoing regional exploration and resource delineation.

At Kempfield, the program will include the following high priority areas:

• Follow-up drilling of IP geophysical anomalies interpreted as potential blind sulphide-rich systems associated with the Kempfield mineralisation trend;
• Infill and step-out holes over Lode 200 in the Kempfield Main Zone to extend mineralisation along strike and down dip;
• Extensions of high-grade Ag-Pb-Zn mineralisation identified in previous RC drilling campaigns at Kempfield NW Zone;
• Extensions of high-grade Ag-Pb-Zn mineralisation identified in previous RC drilling campaigns at the Henry Zone;
• New target defined from previous rock chip sampling coinciding with historical workings at the Golden Wattle; and
• Drill testing at the Sugarloaf Hill Zone under broad Cu-Pb-Zn RC anomalies into fresh rock, as previous drilling campaigns terminated within oxide zones.

The drill program is scheduled to begin in late November and continue into 2026.

This article was developed in collaboration with Argent Minerals, a Stockhead advertiser at the time of publishing.

This article does not constitute financial product advice. You should consider obtaining independent advice before making any financial decisions.