In its quest to unlock the secrets of the Pilbara, Artemis Resources plans to drill a “super-deep” hole.

“This is a very exciting, super-deep hole for Artemis and the drilling of this hole should help answer many questions surrounding the geology and rock sequences in the Pilbara Basin,” executive chairman David Lenigas told investors.

Artemis (ASX:ARV) will drill a 3300m hole 50km south of its Radio Hill mine to test for base metals, cobalt, gold and diamonds.

WA’s Pilbara is one of the most resource-rich areas in Australia and there has been very little exploration at depth.

“In essence, Western Australia has been spoilt for choice for shallow mineral wealth,” Mr Lenigas said.

“It’s time that someone started looking for the source of a lot of mineralisation in the Western Pilbara that has fed the many surface deposits of cobalt, nickel, copper, zinc, gold and [platinum group elements], within Artemis’ extensive tenement package south of Karratha.”

The hole will be drilled in the area where 31 base metal targets were discovered by Fox Resources and 11km from where CRA Exploration hit high-grade gold and 20km from where heavyweight DeBeers dug up diamonds.

Artemis is currently also working with the Australian government’s Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation to investigate the origin of the nuggety gold it and Canadian partner Novo Resources found at their Purdy’s Reward project in July last year.

Artemis shares fell slightly to 20.5c in mid-afternoon Wednesday trade.

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