Pic: Duif du Toit/Gallo Images via Getty Images.
Mining
Critical Resources is getting early runs on the board in its bid to identify deep massive sulphides at the Halls Peak project in New South Wales.
Shares in the explorer charged by more than 15% this morning after Critical Resources (ASX:CRR) revealed its first drill hole intersected big chunks of massive sulphide mineralisation within its first 20m.
Located 45km southeast of Armidale in the New England fold belt, Halls Peak has recorded high grades of zinc, lead, silver and copper in previous shallow drilling.
This hole is the first in a 14-hole, 2500m program designed to test the potential of the Gibsons prospect to as deep as 500m, well below previous intersections.
It came on the first day of the new program, which will be followed up by a 1700m, three-hole program at the Sunnyside prospect.
“We couldn’t ask for a better start to our drilling campaign at Gibsons after intersecting massive sulphide mineralisation in our first drill hole,” Critical Resources managing director Alex Biggs said.
“We believe that what we see here is indicative of the larger Halls Peak system and we will continue drilling with a view to define the scale and potential of this asset.
“Thanks to our team on the ground in New South Wales and our drilling partners DRC Drilling for their diligence and professionalism in beginning the drill program safely and efficiently. We look forward to keeping the market updated with more results in the near future.”
Just 47m of the 140m first diamond hole at Gibsons has been drilled but already Critical Resources has identified three zones of massive sulphides close to surface.
Once the hole is complete the core will be sent to the ALS laboratory in Brisbane for assaying.
The mineralisation is extremely shallow, including a series of stacked massive sulphide lens ranging up to 3.8m in downhole length, with the shallowest starting at 6.4m.
They include reports of massive sulphides from 6.4m-7.4m (45% shale), 10.75m-11.60m (10% shale) and 13.3m-17.1m (14% shale). Further narrow massive sulphide intersections were encountered down to 47m.
Some of the intersections bear similar mineralisation to that encountered in previous hole SG-03, which was drilled in December 2016 and returned a strike of 11.3m at 15.18% Zn, 8.02% Pb, 597g/t Ag and 1.61% Cu.
Critical says these lenses represent exhalative accumulations of fluids containing zinc, lead, copper, silver and gold interbedded with black carbonaceous pelite (clay-rich sedimentary rock).
While the Halls Peak deposits have been mined since 1896 and previous high-grade intercepts have been found in relatively recent drilling down to 150m, Critical Resources views it as a project with bigger scale and depth potential.
Critical Resources said the current hole is being twinned for the purpose of validating previous drill results, to test depth potential, provide results that are JORC QAQC compliant and to allow for downhole electromagnetic surveying.
Some of the previous shallow drill hits at Halls Peak have included strikes of 11.2m at 19.71% Zn, 10.77 % Pb, 134.96g/t Ag and 0.8% Cu and 7.2m at 20.19% Zn, 7.17 % Pb, 30.93gpt Ag, 0.66% Cu.
This article was developed in collaboration with Critical Resources, 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.
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