Drilling results improve confidence in Oracle Ridge resource

Eagle Mountain Mining’s resource upgrade drilling at the Oracle Ridge mine in Arizona, USA has bolstered the company’s plans to define a measured resource in its next JORC mineral resource estimate (MRE).

The drilling program is aimed at not only increasing the size of the existing MRE but also improving the confidence in the status of the resource.

Essentially a ‘measured’ resource has the highest confidence level under the JORC Code and, following mining studies, allows the definition of proven reserves.

So far, the results from three drill holes at the Talon Zone have returned:

18.7m at 1.95% copper, 13.78 g/t silver, 0.33 g/t gold from 41.6m including 9.4m at 2.58% copper, 18.39 g/t silver, 0.46 g/t gold from 50.9m;
4.0m at 2.03% copper, 19.43 g/t silver, 0.3 g/t gold from 111.9m; and
9.1m at 2.23% copper, 11.27 g/t silver, 0.11 g/t gold from 128.7m.

Eagle Mountain Mining (ASX:EM2) will send samples from the drilling for metallurgical testwork which is expected to provide further guidance on recoveries, processing options and tailings facility requirements.

Metallurgical studies are scheduled for September 2021.

Results support potential of defining measured JORC resources

“Our first drill hole into the existing established Oracle Ridge mineralised resource has delivered strong results and provides confidence in the existing JORC resources,” Eagle Mountain Mining CEO Tim Mason said.

“This is our first hole into the existing resources as all our drilling has been outside the existing MRE.

“Whilst early stage, these results support the potential of defining Measured JORC resources, the highest confidence level defined by JORC.”

Talon Zone could expand current MRE

Mason said rigs are on the ground drilling resource step-outs in the Talon Zone and near mine targets at Golden Eagle as well as the resource upgrade drilling.

“With three rigs now drilling around the clock we are seeing more interesting core coming out of the ground,” he said.

The company has also confirmed there’s potential for stacked lodes at the western Talon zone, with visual observations in multiple holes indicating further zones of strong mineralisation.

“Results at the Talon Zone are very encouraging, and the western area continues to show potential for stacked lodes both in the reported results and in the visual observations from recently completed holes,” Mason said.

Monsoon rains have caused delays in the drilling but the company expects drill rates will improve as weather systems subside.

Golden Eagle drilling underway

Drilling at Golden Eagle is targeting a gold and copper-rich mineralised system identified during mapping earlier in 2021.

The program aims to improve the understanding of the footprint of copper-silver-gold mineralisation in the broader Oracle Ridge area and the company hopes the new data will aid vectoring towards areas with high-prospectivity for skarn and porphyry-style copper mineralisation as well as gold mineralisation.

The resource upgrade program will resume in the coming weeks once the Golden Eagle program is completed.

Expediting core-cutting

Mason said he has seen increasing core-cutting delays in laboratories – which adds to longer assay turnaround times – but the company has a plan to circumvent this.

“We have purchased an automated core saw which should help to reduce these delays after it arrives in September,” he said.

“In the meantime, we are investigating other avenues to expedite core-cutting.”

This article was developed in collaboration with Eagle Mountain Mining, 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.